Elegant Distractions

Oregon is experimenting with GPS-based mileage tax, according to the Seattle Times. Brilliant, of course. The arguments against are solid:

The state would need a record of a car's movements to document the
mileage-tax assessment if someone contested it, Sobel says: "Just from a
due-process perspective, there will be pressure to retain
data."

And the oil companies aren't thrilled, either:

"They want to go into our proprietary systems," says Brian Doherty, a lobbyist for the Western States Petroleum Association. "Would you open up your million-dollar computer and let them have access to it?"

Is that a trick question? I'm sure the State hires only the best programmers available and pays them top dollar. No, stop laughing!

What would be funny is if all the oil companies decided to leave the state rather than comply with the proposed law. Unintended consequences, such as the decline in gas tax revenues due to better mileage cars, tend to also be unforeseeable by those who create the circumstances.