Florida Mileage Tax
- Details
- Category: GPS Tracking
State Considers Using GPS Tracking For Taxes
With the recent spikes in gas prices, companies and consumers everywhere are taking every step possible to cutting fuel consumption. These steps include combining trips, utilizing better route selection and keeping up on standard vehicle maintenance. Although all of these efforts can help drivers improve fuel efficiency or even cut down on unnecessary fuel consumption, some people in the state of Florida do not think it is enough. This is because many Florida legislators believe that those who use the roadways more should pay higher taxes than those who do not. Enforcing a tax that would require those whose drive more to pay more used to be something that was impossible to do, but with GPS tracker device technology such a measure is more than a possible reality. And that is exactly what Florida legislators are seeking to do; have GPS trackers document the mileage Florida drivers rack up, taxing those who drive the most.
The Current System
The current system set in place in Florida charges all motorists approximately 60 cents per gallon every time they fill up at the pump as a way to fund maintenance and upkeep of public highways and roadways. This has been essentially a flat tax across the board that every motorist has had to pay. But imagine how much lower gas prices would be if that tax was removed? How much cheaper it would be to fill up at the gas station? This is what Florida lawmakers are trying to achieve, but in order to remove the gas tax they will need to put in some new tax system to pay for the upkeep of the roadways. This is where GPS tracking devices play a role.
Lawmakers are discussing that all motorists equip a GPS tracker device on their vehicle that will accurately calculate the mileage driven annually. With this GPS tracking data, each motorist would pay according to the amount of driving they actually did. This means those who used the roadways most would be required to pay more in taxes. This would also result in lower prices at the pump, at least psychologically speaking.
GPS Tracking Device Controversy
As with any measure involving the use of GPS tracker systems, the new Florida legislation being drafted has caused some controversy among privacy advocates. What these opponents of GPS tracker devices are suggesting is that although the satellite monitoring technology will be calculating mileage driven, it also will be storing historical information about the locations a motorist visits. That means GPS tracker devices placed on Florida automobiles with the intention of recording driving mileage would also record other information such as addresses arrived and departed from. Essentially, "Big Brother" would have access to GPS tracking data that could provide information about what churches, organizations and places a person belongs to or affiliates themselves with.
"People everywhere are complaining about gas and oil prices, and this new proposal catching momentum in Florida is simply one of the ways that politicians are trying to appease public sentiment", explained a GPS monitoring and technology expert at GPS Tracker Shop.
Reader Opinion
Are you in favor of a system that would charge motorists by the mileage they travel?
Would you feel okay with having a state mandated GPS tracker on your vehicle?