Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/141668
Policy ("The Battle Beyond the Beltway" continued from page 51) EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS ABOUT 30 FEET. Portable EcoSmart™ light towers provide business advantages that benefit you and your clients: • Best-in-class pricing • Generous floor plan terms • Industry-leading warranty • Multiple engine options • Exportable power; 120/240V • Extended run time of up to 60 hours For additional advantages, or to arrange a demonstration, scan this code or call 317.471.1800. For more product details, visit www.lt-eng.com/products/light-towers. feasible, both politically and practically. One of the easiest options to implement is voluntary reporting; when filing their yearly taxes, drivers would indicate approximately how many miles they had driven in the last year. While this is the least invasive of the options for tracking mileage, it is highly subjective and potentially open to false reporting. The remaining options would require installing one of any number of technological devices that would track how many miles a car is driven between reporting periods. In a 2006 study, Oregon installed GPS devices in participants' vehicles to collect data on the number of miles each motorist traveled, which then relayed the data to gas stations that levied the appropriate fee when drivers stopped for gas. A more recent pilot program sought to address privacy concerns related to monitoring the whereabouts of drivers. The program allowed participants to choose between four options: installing a simple device that tracked overall mileage without using GPS, installing a GPS device that did monitor where they drove so they wouldn't be charged for driving on private or out-of-state roads, using a smartphone app with GPS capability that only worked when activated, or simply paying a flat fee to avoid any concerns about government tracking. The program charged drivers 1.6 cents per mile if they opted out of the flat fee. This wide variety of options gave motorists the ability to maintain privacy while still paying for their road usage. Of course, a VMT system isn't perfect, as the Oregon experiment has demonstrated. Not only is a mileage-based system vulnerable to tampering, it would be difficult to sell to the American people for a number of reasons. First, policymakers would have to convince the public of the ability to maintain privacy. We are acutely aware, thanks to recent NSA revelations, that conservatives and liberals alike are leery of government intrusion. Second, recent polls have demonstrated that American taxpayers are generally uninformed about how much they pay in transportation-related taxes, often overestimating their yearly contributions. In order to convince them to switch over to a VMT system, they first must be educated on the dire state of the country's highway system and the insolvency of infrastructure funding accounts. Finally, an AED study conducted this year by researchers at the College of William & Mary showed that the initial implementation of a VMT system would have to include a per-mile fee that is indexed to inflation in order to maintain HTF solvency. A flat rate would eventually run into the same problems the per-gallon gas tax has encountered. A lack of political will to levy a higher rate makes it increasingly more difficult to pay for infrastructure as costs grow and the purchasing power of the dollar declines due to inflation. The best way to ensure enough revenues are collected from user fees is to make increases automatic, both to avoid needless political wrangling and ensure revenues keep pace with costs over time. 52 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | July 2013 L275-030751-3_Light Tower Half Page Ad V2 48_Beltway_Feature_KP.indd 52 Color: 4/color 6/27/13 3:50 PM