Pay As You Go

The following program. This is a Studios production. Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Welcome to our virtual campfire sit down we call Wiss's Thoughts. I'm so glad you're here today and we got a great topic to talk about today. But before we get underway, gotta do a little bit of housekeeping. Just so you know, each and every program of Wife Thoughts episode that is can be listened to at Weis's Thoughts dot com w y C E T h o U g h T S Wises Thoughts dot com. Listen to each and every episode of the podcast. You can look it for me on x at Terry Weiss. We're also on the Gram, Instagram at Weiss Productions, so much more. It's all waiting for you at Wife's Thoughts dot com. So everybody wants to go electric. A lot of states are pushing for electric. This electric that, electric vehicles, everything electric and get away from fossil fuels. Well, it comes at a price, my friends, and we're going to talk about it. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Welcome to Weis's Thoughts. I am Terry Weiss. I am so glad that you have decided to spend some of your valuable time with me today. Appreciate you very much. And one last thing too. If you want to get a hold of me, it's Terryatweis's thoughts dot com. Okay, there we go. So I wanted to talk to you today on this episode of the podcast about something an article I came across and I was like blown away when I read it. I had heard rumors about this possibly happening in some states and ideas floated around in the news, and I thought it was something that we should definitely talk about here on the podcast, because you know, there's a greed, there's a green push. You know, we want to obviously, you know, we want to be good stewards of the planet. Okay, I am all for that, believe me. I am. I mean, we don't have to walk around like drunken sailors at a party. We those ain't my house. I don't care. No, you can't be like that, my friends, Okay, we can't do that. That being said, though, however, this article was rather disturbing and it comes from Newsmax, and I did a little checking around and had seen that also that it uh, yeah, it's kind of happening and What it is is a state could join another state that has already implemented this. But it's about if you have an EV an electric vehicle. One state's already doing it, Hawaii, But Oregon could join Hawaii in pay per mile mandates for EV owners as gas tax projections fall. And this is what really, really, really really scared me. I'm just going to read you a little bit of the article. It's an excerpt from Newsmax. It comes from newsmax dot com. So Oregon could become the second US state to require electric vehicle owners to enroll in a pay per mile program, as lawmakers began to begin a special session on Friday to fill a three hundred million dollar transportation budget hole that threatens basic services like snow plowing and road repairs. Legislators failed earlier this year to approve hi transportation funding package, hundreds of state workers jobs are in limbo, and the proposal for a road usage charge for EV drivers was left on the table. Now. The article goes on to say this back in Hawaii, back in twenty twenty three, was the first state to create a mandatory road usage charge a usage charge program to make up for projected decreases in fuel tax revenue due to the growing number of electric, hybrid and fuel efficient cars. Many other states have studied the concept, and Oregon, Utah, and Virginia have voluntary programs. The concept has promised as a long term funding solution, Experts say, let me read that sentence again. The concept has a promise as a long term funding solution, experts say, others worry about privacy concerns and discouraging people from buying evs, which can help reduce transportation emission. This is a pretty major change, said Liz Liz Farmer, an analyst for the Pew Charitable Trusts State Fiscal Policy Team, noting the challenge in enacting something that's dramatically different for most drivers. Oregon's Transportation Department says the budget shortfall stems from inflation, projected declines in tax revenue, and spending limits. Over the summer, it sent layoff notices to nearly five hundred workers and announced plans to close a dozen road maintenance stations. Now here's what they're talking about cotex proposal. Democrat Governor Tina Kotek kote C of Oregon paused those moves and called a special session to find a solution. Republican lawmakers say the department is mismanaging its money and that's the main issue now. Cotex's proposal includes an EVY road usage charge that is the equivalent to five percent of the state's gas tax. It includes raising the gas tax by six cents to forty six cents per gallon, so of folks that still have gas powered vehicles would pay more, among other fee increases, and then the usage charge would phase in starting in twenty twenty seven for certain evs and expand to include hybrids in twenty twenty eight should the gas tax increase be approved. Eb drivers would either pay are you Ready two point three cents per mile or choose an annual flat fee of three hundred and forty dollars. Drivers in the program wouldn't have to pay supplemental registration fees. Drivers would have several options for reporting mileage to private contractors. To private contractors, this is another thing that scares me about this type of proposal, my friends, drivers would have several options for reporting mileage to private contractors, including a smartphone app or the vehicles tellimanatics, I'm sorry, Telematox technology. A policy advisor, Scott boardman for the Transportation Transportation Department who works on the state's dedicated voluntary road usage charge program. All right, so, as of May, it says they were about eighty four thousand evs registered in Oregon, about two percent of the state's total vehicles. Only two percent of the state's total vehicles. But they want to whack these people. So under the HAWAIIS program, which began phasing in last month, ev drivers can pay eight dollars per one thousand miles driven, capped at fifty dollars, or an annual fee of fifty dollars. Okay, annual fee of fifty bucks. But stet, my friends, here's my concerns with this. This is a very very slippery slope where they want to charge you for driving your own vehicle. And they come out and say, by electric, by hybrid, help save the planet. Great, great cause. All right, Yeah, if I could afford one, maybe I'd get one. If there were more charging stations, I probably myself would go with a hybrid. That would be me, That would be my choice to go with a hybrid. But this being said, wanting to charge me after I spent an exorbitant amount of money to try and save a the planets and be on gasoline. And now I'm going to be charged for making a better decision. To me, that just doesn't bode well. I mean, it doesn't make sense. It seems like another way for government bureaucrats to get their hands in your pockets. And if you want to talk about getting your hands in your pockets, look for my episode from the Weiss Thoughts podcast titled keep your Hands, Keep your hand out of My pocket, talks about some of the ways that companies and government, everybody's everybody wants to get that last nickel. You can't have it. It's not yours, it's ours, you know, it's a It can be challenging to you know, provide the basics for yourself and your family and loved ones and keep your head above water nowdays, especially nowadays here in the past decade, and put some money aside for an emergency or a rainy day. But now with all the push, you know, go electric, go electric, we got to do with all this stuff. And again, don't get me wrong, I'm not putting down, you know, being one of these people that says, oh, you know, we should just do what we want because we're only here for a finite amount of time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a jerk about this. But what I'm saying is you complain and bitch and bark at us that you want us to go electric and buy you know, and get away from incandescent light bulbs and all this stuff go led. But you raise our electric rates when we do that, because you're not these electrical you know, these util any companies are getting the revenue. But when we we the general public, you know, you and I out here try to do the right thing. Either the companies increase their rates and charges more, or the government steps in and starts whacking us more fees. How do we win as consumers? That's the question I'm asking, How do we do the for doing the right thing? Why are we getting punished and beat over the head? Poor planning, poor planning by both businesses and the government. And that it just to me, it just doesn't make sense. And the and the big, the big red flag on this. To me reading and reading this article, that jumped out at me, Okay, enroll in a paper mile program to a third party? Yeah, to contractors? To me, that jumps out Wow, because now now you know, how many data breaches have been online, how many people of people's private information and personal information have been exposed medical and otherwise credit history is what have you? And now we want more contractors in, more people with their hands in the pie, tracking where we're going, how much we're driving. I mean, it's bad enough if your insurance company wants to know how many miles a year you drive. You know. The article also another paragraph that caught me that many people don't realize that both your vehicle and your cell phone capture immense amounts of data about your personal driving habits already. Well, that's not an excuse for you to get even more intrusive. Okay, Usa, I'm all about freedom. I'm all about freedom and the idea you know, buying these led lights and doing all this other stuff was to help be a good steward of the planet. Okay, yes, but also also to maintain a little bit of savings cost savings for us, the consumer out here and consumer land. You know, that was member that was the big incentive A couple of years, a couple three year or four years back, and maybe even since the beginning of this whole electric push and climate stuff. You know push is, Oh, it'll save you money, it'll save you money. Well, now it doesn't look like it's going to save us money, doesn't my friends. It's almost it's almost like the old bait and switch. You know, people, I used to have that thing called bait and switch where they lure in with a low cost advertised price on something again there and say, oh, dog gun at the thunder, you just missed it. We just ran out. But I got this one here that's ten dollars more, or I've got this one here that's fifty dollars more or one hundred dollars more. That's how they get you. And it's just I've I've got some real concern learns about all this stuff going on, uh with it? I really do. I don't know what what do you think? What are your thoughts on something like this? Do you feel that, uh, you know, maybe just maybe we're we're having the old bait and switch? What do you think? Let me know? Send me an email Terry Atweis's thoughts dot com, because I have I have some real concerns about this. I don't mind. And again, I know I've said it a billion times on this episode of the Wife's Thoughts podcast. I don't mind being a good steward of the planet. I don't trust me. I don't I get it. I'm here for you. I know what you I know what you mean. However, I got a real problem with, you know, the old bait and switch and telling us like you have been for oh a decade or more, you know, do the right thing, do the right thing, buy an electric vehicle, switch over to LED lighting, please save the planet, help us out. You know, recycle, I mean, I don't get me started on recycling. I mean, we still recycle in our household all we always have kind of so that wasn't a big deal. But there's some documentaries out there you can find on YouTube about you know, you think you're doing the right thing and recycling and returning and doing the bottle returns and doing all that stuff. And yes it's making some impact, absolutely, but there's still a lot of waste going on with that. Where's all that I thought this was supposed to be beneficial and helpful. I'm just I'm a little confused out here as a consumer in the USA. I don't know how it is about in your country where you're living. But it's a little. It's a little confusing out here in the good old United States of America. And this article just jumped right out at me when I happened to be perusing the internet, and so, you know, some other types of stories besides the general nonsense that usually goes on in the world. And I read this article and I was like, oh, red flag, Oh red flag, Oh red flag. I mean, what's next? Are we going to have to give a daily itinerary of everywhere we go in the future. Hey, thanks for listening to the program today. I truly appreciate each and every one of you out there. And remember, to see a change in the world, you have to be the change in the world you want to see. It all starts with you, the person looking back at you in the mirror every morning. Remember to be kind to yourself, be kind to others. If you want to tweet at me on Twitter, it's at Terry Weiss. Stop by the website weiss thought dot com just to make sure you spell my name right, Wye thoughts dot com, and hey, leave us a positive rating and review on your favorite podcast provider. Won't you tell your friends, tell your family, tell your pets about wife's thoughts, and I look forward to gathering yet again around the virtual campfire with you real soon. Take care,