Mobile Electronics Australia

We here at MEA don't get too caught up in politics and legislation, after all it's all about the music, right? So when we heard that as part of his review into the Australian taxation system released on Sunday, Dr. Ken Henry (Treasury Secretary) suggested that GPS technology could be used to charge drivers a congestion tax in capital cities, it caught our attention.

The humble GPS has a warm place in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of Australian motorists. After all, it is essentially a free service. Buy yourself a navigation device or suitable phone and away you go with no more to pay.

However this same technology could be used to track and charge road users under a new suggestion by Dr Ken Henry. The Australian Taxation review projected that by 2020, the cost of city congestion will reach $20 billion. Rather than raising fuel taxes across the board, Henry suggests the introduction of congestion taxes that would be location specific and vary in price depending upon the time of day. Electronic tagging and GPS technology in vehicles were examples of technologies that could allow the implementation of such a concept.

While the plan has merit for making those road users directly affected by the city congestion pay, as opposed to all tax payers, will our good friend GPS be the one that allows this to take place?

Who knows, by 2020 we could all be zipping around in personal travel craft ...