Earth Equity News

Tax on Vehicle Miles Traveled Gains Support But Raises Privacy Issues. By Saqib Rahim, ClimateWire, 10/7/10. “Last week, two former secretaries of Transportation joined a group of experts to propose the VMT [vehicles miles traveled] tax as a long-term solution for transportation funding. Currently, the federal money for roads, bridges and transit comes from a tax on gasoline. But… the tax hasn't been adjusted for inflation, so the system is going bankrupt… In a report [America’s New Transportation Agenda. PDF, 92 pp] from the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, they acknowledged that the public will have privacy concerns about the tax, but ‘in reality, the infringement on personal privacy need not exceed that already associated with other technological conveniences such as cell phones and credit cards.’ Technology and VMT experts agree, but they say the real problem is that the devices can be configured to be far more invasive -- or at least more invasive than people are ready to accept.”