As with nearly every other jurisdiction in the world, Massachusetts is suffering from a budget crisis. Governor Deval Patrick has proposed a whole slew of ideas to generate money, the latest of which is a 27.5 cents/gallon gas tax. As there is already a 23 cents/gallon gas tax, that would bring the total tax per gallon of gasoline to over 50 cents - the highest in the nation.

Even more troubling, however, is proposal to log how many miles motorist drive and tax accordingly. This would be accomplished via a mandatory ID chip installed on every inspection sticker as early as 2014.

What reports don’t address is HOW and WHERE the chip will monitor miles driven. If it is just on Route 90 (within the 128 belt, as the other tolls are “supposed” to be removed), then it is essentially just a state-mandated fast lane system. There are some pros to this, notably less congestion at the tolls. But, then the state has an easy way of tracking where, when, and how fast you are going.

If it is not just on Route 90, but EVERYWHERE, that raises a whole host of other extremely troubling issues. It is one thing for the state to charge you per miles driven on a toll road. Indeed, that is really all that has been going on for decades when you picked up your ticket at the toll booth. It is another thing entirely for every trip to the supermarket, or every Sunday drive for that matter, to be specifically logged and tracked by the state. That would mean that you could not go ANYWHERE in your car without the state knowing about it, and that is system not likely to go over well with the general public.