Not over in Wisconsin, group plans constitutional amendment on road funding

In last Sunday's Milwaukee Journal there was an article concerning an environmental group (a thousand friends of Wisconsin) proposing a new method of taxing roads. It went on to mention high mpg vehicles like hybrids paying an extra fee for less fuel purchased. The thing about this that will concern us with MV and classic vehicle interest's was at the end of the article "Restructuring vehicle registration fees by linking them to vehicles age, weight or value or to inflation" I suspect while they will modestly increase a fuel efficient toy car, they will nail a large old MV with an increase that would cause most of us to give up the hobby due to environmental financial assault. go to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Breaking news, sports, business, watchdog journalism in Wisconsin and search for the article on "group proposes local road plan" This would be done with a constitiutional amendment, I would hope this would be squelched swiftly, but with these articles they sound good to an average article skimmer, but to those of us that know better, with the devil hiding in the details.

I sure get tired of do gooders trying to inflict their personal agenda on the rest of the world. I doubt this will get much traction, but?????

To solve the problem that means the government will give us all new MVs or new cars.

That is as much as I can say without turning this thread political. Hopefully this won't go far when all the people driving older cars find out about it. I hope.

swbradley1 said:

To solve the problem that means the government will give us all new MVs or new cars.

That is as much as I can say without turning this thread political. Hopefully this won't go far when all the people driving older cars find out about it. I hope.

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I would move to Wisconsin if they gave me a new HEMTT! Hey, and since Oshkosh Truck is in Wisconsin that would make sense! A HEMTT for clunkers program.

Legislation on the books calls for a black box installed in every car by 2015. Part of the reason here is less gas being used means less taxes generated. A new use tax is being talked about-the black box would allow gov to track usage in miles. New and creative ways will be employed to secure new taxes.
I am curious to learn how they will collect on older vehicles-looks like Wisconsin has found it.
Pete

I wondered how they were were finally going to stick it to the Prius owners. With what an electric car costs it isn't much of a stretch to see someone (like me if I had one) putting in a small solar panel setup to charge the car. No fuel tax to Uncle Sugar and no taxes paid for electric generation. Additional upside is powering the house to reduce generation costs even more.

Except for the initial outlay costs it is doable and probably a good idea anyway.

Vehicles with three wheels are in a whole different vehicle classification. This merits cutting off a few wheels on my Deuce. 3-wheeled bobber and no extra tax. 3 wheeled Dragon Wagon may be an issue though.
Ugly but still can drive it inexpensively. I will wait till 2015 to buy a torch.
Pete

August 23rd, 2012.

Time to do the CONDECO conversion..... They built a trial deuce back in the 60's with diesel electric drive, with motors in all the hubs, now hitch it to a battery pack and you have a 12+ ton Prius....American built and designed!

Terrible. I personally dislike Priuses (Prii?) and Volts or more specifically the self righteous owners, but really what's not to like about using less fuel as long as you dont get penalized for it.

Aren't there some figures out there that show driving an older vehicle after it reaches a certain age more responsible? Based on energy expended producing new vehicles and waste generated by disposing of old vehicles etc.

Let's see the government try to put black boxes in older cars & trucks. I dare them...

'Tanner'

Hoefler said:

Legislation on the books calls for a black box installed in every car by 2015.
Pete

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Pete:

I believe that the mention of 'black boxes in cars by 2015' refers only to new cars off the showroom floor. Otherwise, citizens won't buy a box for their own, older vehicle.

Screw the black box - just charge a higher tax/price at pump, and FORCE the powers that be to BALANCE the budget dollars spent. This isn't complicated.

I'd rather pay more at pump than be tracked...

'Tanner'

A number of states are looking at taxing by the mile. They want more fuel efficient cars then cry about dropping gas tax revenue.

Missouri does tax hybrid/electric vehicles more when you get the tags. My van was accidently listed as electric when I got the plates. I got a letter from the state saying the renewal would cost an extra 70 or so bucks a year. I had the DMV switch it to gas.

Are roads would not be in such terrible condition if a few things did not happen, Fund's being funneled off, and use of aggressive corrosives which are likely toxic were not being dumped year round, in the winter for snow and ice and now in the summer for dust control (unknown to most summer cruisers) go down a gravel road and you may be subjecting your investment to exposure to substance that generates it's own moisture (auto-aquas). A university of WI study has already suggested our ground water is getting contaminated by these chlorides. And I am convinced it's the reason for the rapid degrading of our roads and bridges not to mention the obvious fact of our vehicle investments being savaged.

Yes-the black boxes are only for new cars going forward. Older ones like GM units with OnStar are already capable of being tracked.
Consider that once most of the vehicles on the road have a black box, data mining can begin in earnest. Vehicles could also be "shut-off".
Sure seems like a mess these days. Feels good to listen to Johny Cash music for a bit of an escape.

I like Minnesota in the winter, learn to drive or stay home. Last time I was there in the winter they used nothing on the roads for snow. No problems at all to get around.

I hate Ohio dumping calcium when they say it will snow in Kansas....

I wouldn't mind paying more if they actually spent the money on the roads.

MN is a great place all year round. They do however spread salt after a snow. It makes a mess of things and is really seldom needed. Typical storms blow through on a low pressure followed by high pressure-the high pressure results in colder temps-the salt does not really work when its cold out.
Winter driving here is like anywhere else-little practice and no worries. The state does a decent job of clearing the snow fast.
The bad thing about MN-the lawmakers love lots of tax dollars and are not afraid of spending them.
Pete

Hoefler said:

Yes-the black boxes are only for new cars going forward. Older ones like GM units with OnStar are already capable of being tracked.
Consider that once most of the vehicles on the road have a black box, data mining can begin in earnest. Vehicles could also be "shut-off".
Sure seems like a mess these days. Feels good to listen to Johny Cash music for a bit of an escape.

Click to expand...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMlhs_-PaHk[/media]

How to Disable Onstar | eHow.com

Have fun!

'Tanner'

Better yet is the Insurance company (progressive I think) that has the little box you plug into your cars computer port and it tracks your driving habits to "save" you money!!!! Ha what a laugh...they get to see your every move with that thing.....tracking at it's finest with the "It'll be good for you" line of thinking.

The company is even called "Progressive"!!! Most people getting the camera deal are the same folks on facebook giving up all of there personal stuff. Lots of sheep giving up not by sword but by pen or computer in this case.
Pete

Here's the link to the article.

Local roads could see funding jump under proposal - JSOnline

What's the benefit of a hybrid car when the state/gov. would tax you higher to operate it? You already paid more for it versus a non-hybrid model. Kudos to those who want to use less gas and have less emissions.

So I should pay little tax on my F250 at 12 mpg as it is near the bottom of the mpg scale. (or for this forum especially, 6 mpg on my M715.)

I would hope that Military vehicles would be exempt from such a tax rate if such an idea would become law.

Scott