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Comment Re:Government Intrusion (Score 1) 837

I buy my gas just before crossing the boarder. Drive around on it and cross back to refill. So they have taxed me for miles that I did not drive in the state.

No, you weren't. You weren't taxed on the miles you drove at all. You were taxed on the gas your purchased. The state where you purchased the gas has every right to tax it. What you did with that gas later was of no matter and makes no difference to the state's right to tax the sale.

Yeah, you can think of gas tax a consumption tax in stead of use tax.

No, you can't think of it as either, because it is not either of those things. It is a sales tax. It is a tax on the sale. The state where that sale takes place has the right to tax it.

Comment Re: This is backward! (Score 1) 837

An additional point. What about out of state driving?

Out of state driving will not be taxed. That's why they need the GPS.

The other side of that. If gas goes down in OR due to the elimination of the state gas tax, won't drivers from states next drive in to buy gas and screw their own state?

Of course they will. It's a common occurance when you have two jurisdictions with different consumption tax policies next to each other. I imagine Oregon is looking forward to picking up the additional business.

Comment Re:No GPS please (Score 1) 837

GPS tracking seems needless compared to just doing bi-annual odometer checks and billing based on that (registration requires bi-annual smog checks for all gas cars already)

As I've stated in other posts, they can't do that. It's unconstitutional for them to tax out-of-state mileage, so they have to have some way of knowing what miles were in-state.

Comment Re:Why does this need GPS? (Score 1) 837

Wouldn't a simple wheel odometer work just fine for this? All you're tracking is miles traveled.

No, because that's not all you're tracking. You're tracking the miles traveled *in Oregon*. Oregon can't tax anything outside Oregon, that violates the US Constitution. So they have to prove to a reasonable standard that all the mileage they're taxing was driven in Oregon.

Comment Re:Government Intrusion (Score 4, Informative) 837

READ my god damned ODOMETER every year when I have to do my registration and whenever I sell the fucking car therein.

That doesn't work. Oregon can't tax the miles you drive outside Oregon--the US Constitution explicitly forbids state taxation of anything outside the state. They *have* to know not only how far you've driven but where you drove it to impose this tax.

I think they need to junk this tax entirely. It's not workable without unacceptable intrusion into your personal information.

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