A year ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced
it had demonstrated that a new way to pay for roads —
via a mileage tax and satellite technology — could
work.
Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature
to take the next step.
As part of a transportation-related bill he has filed
for the 2009 legislative session, the governor says he
plans to recommend “a path to transition away from
the gas tax as the central funding source for transportation.”
What that means is explained on the governor’s
website:
“As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient
vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state
find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our
transportation system.”
According to the policies he has outlined online, Kulongoski
proposes to continue the work of the special task force
that came up with and tested the idea of a mileage tax
to replace the gas tax.
The governor wants the task force “to partner with
auto manufacturers to refine technology that would enable
Oregonians to pay for the transportation system based
on how many miles they drive.”
The online outline adds: “The governor is committed
to ensuring that rural Oregon is not adversely affected
and that privacy concerns are addressed.”
When the task force’s study and test were in the
news in 2006 and 2007, critics worried that the technology
could be used to track where vehicles go, not just how
far they travel, and that this information would somehow
be stored by the government.
