Dutch to pay taxes on driving per mile not car tax
From the Associated Press, and a friend of mine in Holland who alerted me to this. He is really up-set about and sent me a e-mail saying he hopes that America never goes Socialist like Holland is.
Dutch drivers will pay less to buy a car but will be charged tax for every mile on the road, a system the government says will reduce traffic jams, fatal accidents and carbon emissions.
The Cabinet approved a bill Friday calling for drivers of an average passenger car to pay a base rate of euro0.03 per 1 kilometer (7 US cents per mile), beginning in 2012. Drivers of heavier, more polluting vehicles will pay more, and the cost will go up for driving in peak hours.
GPS will track the time, hour and place each car moves and send the data to a billing agency.
But the annual road tax and purchase tax for new cars will be abolished, reducing the price of a new car 25 percent, the Transport Ministry said.
Nearly 6 out of 10 drivers will benefit under the system, the ministry said, but government revenue would remain the same. Public transportation, including taxis, will be exempt.
The kilometer tax has been debated for several years, amid concerns that it would unjustly raise the cost of car travel and intrude on privacy.
The ministry said, however, the travel information would be protected, and the data would not be accessible to the government for other purposes.
The ministry calculated that overall traffic will drop about 15 percent, peak-hour congestion will be halved, traffic deaths will fall 7 percent and carbon emissions from road travel will be cut by 10 percent.
The tax will increase every year until 2018 and could be adjusted if it fails to change traffic patterns.
Coming soon: A driving tax to your driveway or garage, for the benefit of all. If you can believe that.
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Chase, good post.
Talk about Big Brother watching you. Thanks for the idea Holland ------ NOT!
Oh wow. GPS tracks your every move? Somehow with what a car oriented culture we are here I don't think this would "fly" but ...it scares me to think.
This is where it is going. George Orwell was way ahead of his time..
Its actually pretty predictable because it has happened so many times in the past.
Our founding fathers tried to prevent it by setting up a constitution that kept the people in charge of the government, but we have clearly lost that control. If the government wants something bad enough, they will meet on a Saturday, arrange votes so that some members are not going to be held accountable by their constituents while others who are locked in will vote the way they want, and our rights erode.
They foist bogus environmental catastrophes upon us as a basis for controlling where we go, what we do, and how we do it.
We should look at Western Europe as an example of where our society is going. Decadence, socialism, statism.
Well... being retired... I LIKE IT! I don't have to drive much... so if it happens here... then I will run into less traffic when I do venture about! Is that being selfish?
I wish we had a public transit system like the Europeans do and that Americans would actually use it. Europeans are less likely to fight for that parking spot 10 feet from a store's entrance if they bother driving at all.
People will think more about their driving. This won't fly here. We are too big. Otherwise I agree with lonewolf. It wont affect me.
Nothing wrong with a tax based on miles driven, but the GPS thing is a threat to privacy and an invitation to governmental mischief. Instead of using GPS, the Dutch government could just have somebody at the Dutch DMV read the odometer once per year.
In Holland you can easily get around without a car, but in the US, not so much.
UPS, Fedex , cab companies and transport companies will love this one...and the costs will just be passed on to you the consumer...taxes are everywhere and silently hidden in everything you buy,
Obewan.... I would hate to really add up all taxes and fees... I would be in "sticker shock"... Maybe there should be a flat tax of 80% and get it over with! A Government ran country. THe way it is going... and too many don't even realize it!
GailBegin - I recently discovered that all domestic cars built since 2001 (and all GM cars since 1974) have a "black box" called sensing and diagnostic modules, that constantly monitors your speed, direction, yaw and braking. Police and insurance investigators download them after an accident.
Y_S - Stop wining. The Europeans have a better standard of living and are more satisfied with life in general than we are. We could use some of that decadence. Bring it on!
ChuxxR - Are you retired, too?
I'm lovin' it. Free government care, my investments are doing great, don't have to work, generous public pensions for life, no state property taxes... Yeah, this socialism stuff is OK.
Will all of those in favor of the Patriot Act and opposed to this please raise their hand.
How many of you allow "cookies" on you computer, bank by internet, e-file your taxes, have direct deposit of your checks, own a cell phone, have "on star" in your car, have an SSN/EIN, driver's license or are some other way connected to the 21st century? You know, like blog on the web? :)
And you are afraid of what?
You libs are a real scream! You get your panties in a bunch over the extremely remote potential for the goverment to monitor your library usage, but a GPS monitoring your every movement in your car so they can confiscate your money---no biggie! Typical....
The Dutch also eat eels.
I got a scooter that gets over 80 MPG, I rarely drive any more and being retired I barely use the scooter at all.
whatIsay, I don't know who your last post was pointed towards but let me make a few things clear, in case you were making some presumptions based on what I wrote.
I said nothing about being in favor or against this. I was pointing out some of the irony from previous postings. I asked some questions, which I did not provide any answers. I am not in favor of the government's ability to track my existence or activities in any manner, I am aware however that the technology exists, and opening the door to allow it in one case often implies consent to do it in others. So you see, being opposed to warrantless wiretaps, "monitoring my library usage" and GPS monitoring of my vehicle is consistent and actually typical of my libertarian/moderate views and whether I wear panties is again something that is none of your business, nor the governments, though they probably know...acceptance doesn't mean I like it.
Rolandmc it wasn't aimed at you in particular---see the posts preceeding yours. However, your previous post seemed designed to imply that those who would be against the tracking of cars for tax collection purposes are hypocrites if they weren't also against the patriot act. That is a position I reject. It is a comparison of apples and oranges. The issues are so distinguishable that it defies logic to compare the two. The question you asked raised a comparison that is false to its core, and an example of the staple of so-called "argument" from the left. As for your panties, if any, I don't want to know.