DMV Director: Track every car with GPS and tax by the mile

California's new Department of Motor Vehicles director advocates overhauling the way the state raises money to maintain its roadways, but many drivers and privacy advocates find her idea alarming.

Joan Borucki has said she favors placing tracking devices on vehicles and then taxing drivers for the miles they drive. She says that as more drivers buy cars that get better gas mileage, the state is taking in less money from its gas tax. Even though Californians are driving more than ever, revenues are down nearly 10 percent.

Drivers who spend a great deal of time on the road and owners of transportation-related businesses such as trucking firms or delivery companies say such a tax could hurt. "They say small companies are the backbone of California," said Dick Parvel who owns ASAP Delivery in Stockton. "It's just more paperwork, more problems."

Under the plan the current 18 cent per gallon gas tax would be replaced by a mileage tax. Drivers would have tracking devices on their vehicles, an idea that alarms privacy advocates who worry about the state being able to keep tabs on drivers. Such a system is being tested in Oregon.

The Global Positioning System tracking devices would communicate with state computers via satellite, and downloaed information would then be used to calculate the tax bill.

Environmentalists worry that a mileage tax would remove the incentive for drivers to buy hybrid vehicles. Others say such a tax would be more open to fraud than taxing at the pump.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that he didn't yet have a position on the mileage tax. "I know the idea that she is talking about, but I do not know exactly what it will do," Schwarzenegger said. "So I will stop and think it through before I make a decision."

The Legislature would have to approve any change in the gas tax.


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