By Haley Kosik/WJEZ News

Five-thousand volunteers in Oregon are participating in this new tax where drivers are charged based on how many miles they drive instead of how many gallons of fuel they buy.

Oregon will be the first state beginning July 1st to actually attempt it.

Michelle Godfrey, spokeswoman for Oregon’s Road Usage Charge Program said, “The gas tax was originally designed as a ‘user pays’ kind of model, because the consumption of fuel was an exact proxy for how much you drove. There’s more disparity among the cars on the road when it comes to fuel efficiency.”

Godfrey knows that some people dislike the idea of a GPS in their cars, but said state law in Oregon is not to collect, for example, the exact coordinates, however, it’s the benefit of the doubt.

She said you get the benefit of taking advantage of a number of value-added services, such as an app that allows you to find your car in a large parking lot.