North Carolina is not alone in considering an odometer tax.
Arturo Perez, a fiscal analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said that a number of states are considering a so-called Vehicle Miles Traveled tax.
"There is a sense among many states that there needs to be an alternative to the traditional forms of financing transportation," he said.
Perez said that the gas tax used by many states and the federal government to fund road improvements has not kept pace with inflation in the costs of road-building materials.
Even when the tax is raised, it's not enough, he said.
According to a 2006 report by the NCSL, 14 states raised their gas tax rates 19 times since 1997, but only three raised them sufficiently enough to keep pace with inflation.
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Re: Other states consider odometer tax
But are those other states considering keeping their gasoline tax alongside the VMT? And are those other states' gas taxes as high as North Carolina's? And are those other states trying the Orwellian approach to try to track citizens with GPS? And are those other states' highway funds as misused and misallocated as North Carolina's?
I'm not fond of using the argument that a foolish thing is less foolish if someone else does it, too, but it could be that the other states are doing a foolish thing less foolishly than what is currently proposed in NC.