A black box for your car

[Capt Worley PE]

WASHINGTON — As America's road planners struggle to find the cash to mend a crumbling highway system, many are beginning to see a solution in a little black box that fits neatly by the dashboard of your car.


The devices, which track every mile a motorist drives and transmit that information to bureaucrats, are at the center of a controversial attempt in Washington and state planning offices to overhaul the outdated system for funding America's major roads.

"This really is a must for our nation. It is not a matter of something we might choose to do," said Hasan Ikhrata, executive director of the Southern California Assn. of Governments, which is planning for the state to start tracking miles driven by every California motorist by 2025. "There is going to be a change in how we pay these taxes. The technology is there to do it."

Much more here: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-roads-black-boxes-20131027,0,6090226.story#axzz2j7kSdCId

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Since most new cars come with some sort of Nav system (Onstar, Lo-jack, or just navigation), these "little black boxes" already exist...

 

[Flyer_PE]

Looks like there will be an emerging market for hacking the little black boxes.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Since most new cars come with some sort of Nav system (Onstar, Lo-jack, or just navigation), these "little black boxes" already exist...

Yeah, they just need the NSA to hack into 'em, if they haven't already.

Plus, they could just do the same thing with your cell phone GPS unit....

 

[wilheldp_PE]

The logic here doesn't add up. Road maintenance is already supposed to be paid for out of gas taxes. With the exception of yard equipment or generators, pretty much every gallon of gas purchased at a gas station is used to propel a vehicle on a road. It's probably the most specific tax collected. If the tax revenue from the gas tax isn't sufficient to keep up with maintenance costs, then increase the tax. I don't understand how collecting travel data and providing it to the federal government is going to be any more useful in collecting taxes than the gas tax already is. They just want access to more data about us, and I wouldn't be surprised if that data was used to issue speeding tickets or shared with insurance companies to raise our rates. I realize that the government probably already has access to this data, but it's hard for them to use it without us finding out about it.

 

[snickerd3]

With more efficient MPG cars the amount of gas tax collected is going down because people are using less but puttng the same milage on the roads. So increasing the gas tac is one way to overcome the new hiccup...not that I like that idea much since I put on so much mileage any givenyear

 

[csb]

^ what snick said...hybrids and electric cars are rolling down the road tax free (so to speak)

 

[snickerd3]

SOOO the black box idea should be for the electric and hybrids only to equalize the gax tax!!

 

[Master slacker]

Sooooooooo... this new black box to increase the revenue by "paying their fair share" will replace the existing gas tax? :lmao:

Me thinks it will be a convenient addition to the existing tax... convenient double-dipping...

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I can't ever think of a tax going away, but I can think of a lot of taxes that were added during my lifetime.

 

[csb]

Our grocery tax went away. It'll be back, but for awhile now it's been gone.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I'm also curious as to how much of the revenue collected from gas taxes is actually used for road repair rather than diverted to other vote buying endeavors. This is just idle curiosity on my part,....not that Illinois has a history of playing games with taxes and revenue or anything.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

The stadium tax went away a couple years ago. Granted it was only a 0.1% sales tax...

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Local taxes normally have to be approved by referendum, and in order to get them passed, sunsets are usually written into the law. The Federal government can pass whatever the hell they want because they keep getting re-elected with a 5% approval rating. They have no motivation to sunset new taxes.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

^Unless it passes by reconcilliation, then it has to be voted on again every ten years. That's why Clinton era welfare reforms went away.

Obamacare will have to be re-approved in 2020. If it isn't already dead or defunded by then.

 

[Road Guy]

I'm also curious as to how much of the revenue collected from gas taxes is actually used for road repair rather than diverted to other vote buying endeavors. This is just idle curiosity on my part,....not that Illinois has a history of playing games with taxes and revenue or anything.

luckily most of that money is overseen by a federal agency that keep the states from using it for unrelated projects, however what happens is that it gets watered down because you have to spend a decent amount of money on bullshit environmental reports, trails, enhancement projects, transit, and other things that really don’t have anything to do with “roads”

The gas tax really barely covers the maintenance each state road network needs let alone new projects..

Yes I am sure you have heard me preach this before but it is the truth!

 

[Master slacker]

Yes I am sure you have heard me preach this before but it is the truth!

Well, there ya go. I saw it on the internet so, therefore, it must be the truth.