Posted on 03/26/2021 7:15:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
With the Biden administration’s unprecedented levels of spending just getting started, new ways to raise tax revenue to the government are beginning to be floated. We’ve already seen the proposition of raising some of the top marginal tax rates, increasing the corporate tax rate, and eliminating deductions as part of a broader “infrastructure” bill, which is really just a nearly $5 trillion slush fund of liberal wants.
In an attempt to further pay for their desired monstrosity, Biden’s Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, has a tax idea that isn’t going to go over well. Namely, he thinks that a mileage tax, which would tax you for every mile you drive on a public road, shows a lot of “promise.”
I can’t think of a broader, more regressive tax than a mileage tax. It’s the working class that does the lion’s share of driving on our roads, mainly because they don’t have jobs that allow them to work remotely. This would also kill truck drivers, which would mean the prices of consumer goods would skyrocket. Further, the bureaucratic processes that would need to be created in order to keep track of everyone’s mileage usage are mind-boggling to think about. In short, how exactly does this idea show any promise at all?
On the other hand, as I noted above, this would lead to a bloodbath in 2022. There is no way most Americans are going to be happy about getting a new tax bill that punishes them for attempting to be productive. And we all know that this will simply be stacked on top of the existing gas tax. Democrats never simplify the tax structure, they only stack more and more on top of it.
The surest way to ensure Republicans take back the House and Senate in a year and a half is for Biden to push this past the theoretical stage. But arrogance is a funny thing, and the Democrats are very emboldened right now, thus all the talk of blowing up the filibuster. They wouldn’t need to do that to pass a mileage tax, though, as it can be done through reconciliation.
I’m skeptical that happens, but we’ll see if they are dumb enough to try.
And here’s the problem: I would actually be in favor of it if there was zero tracking. Electric cars take up space and wear out the roads, also.
However, anyone who believes that:
1. No tracking would be involved (or that the records would be destroyed after the tax was paid), or
2. That governments would use this IN PLACE OF and not IN ADDITION TO gasoline taxes
is an utter fool.
This kid of mileage tax is a hard burden aimed at ranches & farms in the midwest & western states.
I have an article about a couple in their 60’s who own a ranch in N Nevada... When they turn OFF the county road, it is 18 MILES to their ranch house-—all of it on their own property. SOOOO—They will be charged 36 miles of taxes while driving JUST on their own driveway IN & OUT of their ranch.........
Also the federal government is $28 trillion in debt and burning through $3 trillion a year more than it takes in, they won't even notice a lousy few billion in reduced tax revenue.
NO CELL PHONE
1976 truck
1979 station wagon
Ain’t ‘tracking’ me.
Not long if passive Americans continue to permit the tyrants to breathe freely.
THEN-—ONLY electric cars should have this burden...NOT everyone.
80+ million Americans voted and are in favor of this...so they say. /s
It is called VMT (vehicles miles traveled). It is not a new idea. It has been winding its way through bureaucratic circles and Commissions for the past five years.
Your annual car registration will be akin to doing your taxes deductions based on rural residency and other factors.
The cost of collecting the tax is about 20%. For every dollar collected, 20 cents will be consumed by administration. On top of that will be private sector admin costs.
The excise tax collected at the refineries, on the other hand, cost less that 1% to administer. But, everyone complains about raising the federal gasoline excise tax which has not gone up for 28 years.
Be careful what you complain about. You object to the federal excise tax increasing and you get VMT.
Dems just can’t seem to get enough of our money can they!
We can retire the National Debt if we impose a “Stupid Tax” on Liberals.
What tax do illegals mess with at all?
The ‘current system’ (whatever you mean by that) seems to ignore illegals altogether. They appear to be personae gratae, with all sorts of ‘rights’ that the rest of us don’t possess.
I would call him an a**hole, but he might take that as a compliment.
Will they eliminate the gas tax? I doubt it.
Why the hell would they want to track us. Specifically, you and me?
We already have a mileage tax, its called a gas tax.
Drive more miles, buy more gas, pay more tax.
In addition to fuel taxes.
How convenient.
I guess due process is also out the door and replaced by a true dictatorship.
Since I sat out the Georgia Runoffs to ‘teach the GOP a lesson’ (and thereby give the Democrats control of the Senate without even needing to cheat), I have NO PROBLEM with this, even if it will cost me thousands a year. After all, what counts is that we got rid of those two pesky RINOs!!!
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