Beware the future of road taxes

Right now in Wisconsin, we are debating whether we should end our indexed gas tax. For those of you not in Wisconsin, every year on April 1, our gas tax automatically goes up without our legislature ever having to vote on it. This gas tax is supposed to be segregated and used to pay for our roads. But while we debate repealing the automatic increase in the gas tax, Federal bureaucrats are already looking at tomorrow's method of violating our privacy, financially restricting our freedoms, and raiding our pocket books:

The U.S. Department of Transportation has been handing millions of dollars to state governments for GPS-tracking pilot projects designed to track vehicles wherever they go. So far, Washington state and Oregon have received fat federal checks to figure out how to levy these "mileage-based road user fees."

First off, gas taxes and tolls already do a good job levying higher fees on those who drive more. Second of all, if the GPS device were to fail, your car would be designed to automatically shut off. And third, perhaps most importantly, your privacy could be non-existent:

No rule prohibits that massive database of GPS trails from being subpoenaed by curious divorce attorneys, or handed to insurance companies that might raise rates for someone who spent too much time at a neighborhood bar. No policy bans police from automatically sending out speeding tickets based on what the GPS data say.

It's important for us to keep our eyes on both the current gas tax debate and future government schemes. This GPS idea is one that needs to be short circuited before it even gets off the ground.