Draft Proposal Would Create Agency To Tax Cars By the Mile 932
theodp writes "The Hill reports that the Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. The plan is a part of the administration's 'Transportation Opportunities Act,' and calls for spending $200 million to implement a new Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office tasked with creating a 'study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems.' The office would be required to consider four factors — the capability of states to enforce payment, the reliability of technology, administrative costs, and 'user acceptance' — in field trials slated to begin within four years at unspecified sites. Forbes suggests the so-called vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax should be called the Rube Goldberg Gas Tax, because while its objective is the same as the gas tax, the way it collects revenue is extremely complex, costly and cumbersome." The disclaimers are thick on the ground, though; note, this is an "early draft," not pending legislation.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Perfectly reasonable but is it necessary? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Even Worse (Score:4, Funny)
> If we tax by the mile, the pickup and the hybrid get the same charge, so why
> buy a new vehicle? Incentive: old pickup.'
These are Democrats we are talking about. Nothing about it will be simple and in ten years it will go beyond complicated to 'no mortal can know it and stay sane'.
Of course hybrids will get a special rate, probably on day one. Since they want to use a GPS logger they are already planning on taxing based on where and when you drive, even if the initial proposal doesn't mention it. And of course states and cities will be invited to attach to a teat on their new cash cow. Every planner's wet dream of taxing the shit out of rush hour commuters instead of building ever more lanes will come true. When the rural peasants scream about being taxed to death they will get special rates for driving long runs over low traffic rural byways. And because of the fine information detail they will quickly move from taxing just for revenue but to impose social policy.
Right now the automobile is popular because it lets the ordinary citizen go wherever the hell he wants without asking anyone's permission and nobody even having to know about it. This plan upends most of that up front and all of it once the obvious (and already planned out) mission creep sets in. This is a feature not a side effect. Progressives HATE cars for exactly the same reasons most people love them.