If a fool and his money are soon parted, I fear that our legislators will once again play us taxpayers for fools.

In Wednesday’s “Pay by the Mile” article, it said that the current state gas tax is $0.16 per gallon (Star-Advertiser, March 13). I drive about 8,000 miles per year. Let’s say my car gets 25 miles per gallon. This means I use about 320 gallons annually, so I pay about $51 per year in state gas taxes.

The article said that Hawaii Department of Transportation officials are looking at Oregon’s trial system, which charges drivers 1.7 cents per mile driven. If Hawaii adopts that system, I would pay about $136 per year, which is almost triple the current tax. And this new tax might not be a replacement for the gas tax since Oregon has proposed that this be an additional tax.

Auwe!

Cliff Halevi

Kailua

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