Posted on 02/20/2009 4:11:38 AM PST by Man50D
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn -- an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.
Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said.
Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.
The idea also is gaining ground in several states. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and a North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.
A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.
Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.
"What I see this administration doing is this -- thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America," he said.
LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the federal gasoline tax in the current recession.
The program that funds the federal share of highway projects is part of a surface transportation law that expires Sept. 30. Last fall, Congress made an emergency infusion of $8 billion to make up for a shortfall between gas tax revenues and the amount of money promised to states for their projects. The gap between money raised by the gas tax and the cost of maintaining the nation's highway system and expanding it to accommodate population growth is forecast to continue to widen.
Among the reasons for the gap is a switch to more fuel-efficient cars and a decrease in driving that many transportation experts believe is related to the economic downturn. Electric cars and alternative-fuel vehicles that don't use gasoline are expected to start penetrating the market in greater numbers.
"One of the things I think everyone agrees with around reauthorization of the highway bill is that the highway trust fund is an antiquated system for funding our highways," LaHood said. "It did work to build the interstate system and it was very effective, there's no question about that. But the big question now is, We're into the 21st century and how are we going to take care of our infrastructure needs ... with a highway trust fund that had to be plused up by $8 billion by Congress last year?"
A blue-ribbon national transportation commission is expected to release a report next week recommending a VMT.
The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.
The device would tally how much tax motorists owed depending upon their road use. Motorists would pay the amount owed when it was downloaded, probably at gas stations at first, but an alternative eventually would be needed.
Rob Atkinson, president of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, the agency that is developing future transportation funding options, said moving to a national VMT would take about a decade.
Privacy concerns are based more on perception than any actual risk, Atkinson said. The satellite information would be beamed one way to the car and driving information would be contained within the device on the car, with the amount of the tax due the only information that's downloaded, he said.
The devices also could be programmed to charge higher rates to vehicles that are heavier, like trucks that put more stress on roadways, Atkinson said.
Doubt it. But if this does happen, I predict that my Jaguars will have “trouble” with the electrical system that causes the devices to wipe, or just fry them entirely.
After all, we all know how Lucas cars are... :P
People will just have their odometers turned back. Will they tax us next on how many hours the televison is on?
As Rush is fond of saying, liberals judge other liberals on their intentions not on results.
in this case the speedometer cable has nothing to do with it since it’s tracked by gps and IT calculates how many miles you drive..
see my #25..odometer has nothing to do with it..your cars location and miles drives are calculated by the gps..
drives = driven
I'd be happy to see them get a bonus performance incentive based on how much they reduce taxes and the budget over the previous year.
Clearly, “Travis the Chimp” is alive and well and has been transferred to the transportation department.
This may be the dumbest idea in the history of dumb ideas.
*The compliance cost on both the motorist’s side and the government’s side will almost certainly exceed the tax revenue generated.
* As the article stated, it will discourage the use of fuel efficient vehicles.
* It will undoubtedly be plagued by massive fraud. Hackers will roll back the milage on the chips, phoney chips will be sold, and a thousand other scams will emerge.
*The idea that there is a “one way” data transmission from satallite to chip is nonsense. Even if it were true, the government, or anyone else could download the details of your driving record from your chip, so privacy would certainly be compromised.
Since the program would be extremely costly and bring in less tax revenue, clearly, the agenda is to monitor the movement of Americans.
Ray LaHood needs to get Santellied!
Ahhh, the "imputed tax" rears it's ugly head again. This idea was first floated by the Clintoon administration back in 1993 or 1994 as a way to fund Hillarycare. The way it would work was the gubmint would review the value of your home and decide what it would rent for. If your home would rent for say, $2000/month or $24,000/year, then you would owe income tax on that amount of "imputed income". Never mind that if you rented your home you wouldn't have a place to live. You would owe the tax because you "enjoy" the benefit of living in a home that could be rented for that amount. Nice, huh?
Nationalized banks, socialized health care, using taxpayer money to bail out deadbeats who agreed to mortgages they knew full well they could never repay, bailing out miserably failing automotive businesses and the unions that ruined them, a mileage tax, salary caps for executives in private industry, the Fairness Doctrine, increased welfare bennies for deadbeats who refuse to work, numerous tax cheats appointed to high level cabinet positions, amnesty for criminal illegal aliens, making nice-nice with known enemies, and the list goes on and on and on. These Obamalamadingdong folks are absolutely begging for a revolution.....
If they didn't want shit such as this they would not have voted for the bastard.
Before he is through, Hatti will have a higher standard of living than the United States. But again, this is what the American idiots want.
46% didn't vote for this bastard.....
I have been warning people they are looking for a way to capture the lack of revnue from Hybrids and Electrics since their is no fuel tax on the "Fuel".
Look what Michigan did to diesel fuel tax after the Rabbit Diesels hit the shore here and got real popular.
Same $&!+ different day....
I’d be happy with some justice (tar & feather, jail time, etc.) for elected officials when they squander my tax contribution irresponsibly and/or unethical practices.
A tin foil hat for the GPS antenna should take care of that.
Thank goodness that Obama brought RINO LaHood on board. What a nice show of bipartisanship. He sure is helping to balance the agenda. Barf.
If you figure the percentage of Americans who vote and vote legally I figure that somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of Americans voted for him.
The last 30 days of the Obomber have been well beyond my worst expectations.
Government officials have lost their fear of the citizens. Time to return to the old school ways. I suggest bringing back tar-and-feathering for starters.
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