'Fair' taxes unfair when they infringe on privacy

For two weeks now I've been urging public officials to begin thinking creatively about how governments tax people in this state. Don't keep collecting money the same old way just because your parents and grandparents did it that way when they were in charge.

Well, the people of Oregon have caught some of that spirit. Unfortunately, they've also shown that in government, just as in cooking, changes to the recipe are not necessarily always good.

Beginning next year, 400 Oregon drivers will have their cars equipped with special global positioning satellite devices as part of a pilot project that could one day completely replace the gasoline tax. Every time they fill up with gas, the little devices will radio the car's mileage to a receiver that accesses a state-run database. The idea is that, if the program were up and running statewide, the drivers would pay tax on how many miles they have driven, not on how much gas they have consumed.

The reasoning behind this is simple. According to press reports, bureaucrats in Oregon fear that everyone will begin buying fuel-efficient cars and that eventually this will lead to a drop in revenue from the gas tax. This is kind of like the angst public officials often spout about how Internet sales are robbing local governments of sales taxes. Even in environment-conscious Oregon, officials don't expect this gas-tax crisis to hit until about 2014, but they are determined to get ahead of the curve.

OK, I'm all for keeping both hands on the wheel and studying the curves ahead, but let's peer through the windshield. This plan has some major potholes. These can be broken down into two categories: the philosophical and the practical. Let's take the philosophical first.

If my car is equipped with a government-monitored GPS system, that means someone in a darkened room in some corner of the state Capitol could easily know where I am at all times. Granted, this would come in handy when a teenage son or daughter asks to borrow the car for a short errand and then returns with a shrug three hours later. But on a day-to-day basis, I'd rather not have a big ball thousands of miles out in space tracking where I go. First, the Patriot Act allows government to keep track of the books I check out from the library, and now this? Throw in my local grocery store discount card, and it starts getting spooky. Pretty soon, George Orwell will be watching me through my television set.

According to an Associated Press report, Oregon's system eventually could be tweaked so as to encourage "good" behavior. If you drive during peak rush-hour periods, your tax would be higher than if you stay late at work and go home when it's dark. And that leads me to the practical problems.