I think this article is disingenuous. I honestly don't believe the Cato Institute really wants to increase monitoring of individuals.

FTA: "Second, many people worry about government monitoring their travel. Oregon’s solution is to use a system that tracks how much you owe, but does not record when or where you traveled. Thus, there is no way the system could be used to invade people’s privacy."

How much you owe. Either way, that means installing *some* device on a car to track miles traveled. Libertarians should be all over that slippery slope argument.

This piece was written to be discarded after its true purpose is fulfilled. There is momentum building across the United States for an increase in or change to the gas tax because our infrastructure needs improvement.

To address his weak points: 1) Inflation. The per gallon tax fixed at a number of cents cannot keep pace with inflation. Solution: Index the gas tax to inflation, or change it to a percentage of the actual sale price. Done. 2) Increasing fuel economy. Um, so what? Taxes have a proven effect to modify behavior. That's kind of the point in many cases. It is a *good* thing that there is an incentive to reduce fossil fuel consumption. More efficient vehicles are the way to do this. He is actually arguing to let people emit as much carbon as they please, disguised as an attempt to "fix" a tax problem. 3) Seems like a problem for cities and counties which don't collect fuel taxes and don't properly support their own infrastructure. "Subsidize other people's travel"? Yes. This is an attack on more fuel efficient vehicles and a bone thrown to the petroleum industry, again. 4) Traffic congestion? WTF does this have to do with his proposed "per mile fee"? Absolutely nothing. He's trying to blend in a different solution for a different problem. His "variable fee" is site-specific when there is traffic. This means tracking the location of the vehicle at points in time. The same thing he said his idea wouldn't actually entail!

Yep. This article was just written to be shown off trying to stall any momentum for a gas tax increase. It's not a serious proposal at all, just the Koch brothers trying to manipulate discourse.

This is a very dumb idea. For reasons. Also, you're a shit Germany and generally a terrible person.

Isn't the Cato Institute a "libertarian" organization? These guys love their toll roads, I tell ya. The "mileage fee" does essentially the same thing as a toll road, but without all the privatization and all of the government intrusion.

I say we toll them.

What Jeff said. Nicely done, sir. +1

Jeffy and the liberal left hate this rational concept because the motions that overpaid for hybrids are escaping their responsibility to maintain the roads, and this makes then pay equally.

To liberals the gas tax is a punative tool as much as anything meant to discourage use, just like ever-increasing tobacco taxes.

Not that difficult to have you mileage checked at a certified location annually when you pay for your licence and pay the appropriate tax - no "tracking device" required.

We used to have to get emissions test and vehicle inspections annually to get a license - not a big deal.

Americans are too stupid and their elected officials too corrupt to adopt good public policy. They get the government that US corporations can afford.

Wusti is correct, historically. I like to think that we can change it. #BernieSanders2016

@AWB: You're absolutely right. Cato is a libertarian think tank founded by David Koch and some friends around 40 years ago. The mileage fee instead of taxes is the first step toward privatization of all roads with tolls which is the libertarian end game. In that end game, freedom of movement is restricted by ability to pay someone else for the privilege. The great train builders and robber barons of the 19th century understood this premise and squeezed Americans for all they were worth.

If the WSJ expressed concern about toll roads, you can be assured this Cato article is a troll piece.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-texas-toll-roads-proliferateand-a-backlash-builds-1413823849

I'm not a big fan of the idea, for privacy reasons if nothing else. Taxes should involve the government having as little information about me as possible / necessary.