GPS-based Tax system for car mileage

[ryanpatgray]

Yet another example of how taxes can be detrimental to privacy. Via The Albany Democrat-Herald.

@Hasso Hering

A GPS-based system kept track of the in-state mileage driven by the volunteers. When they bought fuel, a device in their vehicles was read, and they paid 1.2 cents a mile and got a refund of the state gas tax of 24 cents a gallon. The final report detailed the technical aspects of the program. It also stressed the issue of privacy.“The concept requires no transmission of vehicle travel locations, either in real time or of travel history,” the report said. “Accordingly, no travel location points are stored within the vehicle or transmitted elsewhere. Thus there can be no ‘tracking’ of vehicle movements.”

Even if you trust the report (which I do not) the idea of government bureaucrats knowing how far you drive on a given day is very unsettling.