Alternative measure
Among the arguments against a miles-driven tax as a possible replacement for the fuel tax that is now collected at the pump are both methodology and privacy concerns. For cars built since 1996 the technology exists to use the onboard diagnostics port to obtain miles driven but that may be offset by worries about someone potentially learning when/where we have been.
Maybe we already have the simple mechanism in hand to solve both issues. The odometer reading and date is included during our every-other-year Illinois vehicle emissions tests. Perhaps those numbers could be used as the basis for calculating the miles-driven tax.
Bill Murray
Palatine
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