Posted on 03/24/2011 4:37:42 PM PDT by DoctorBulldog
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they drive is a possible option for raising new revenues and that these taxes could be used to offset the costs of highway maintenance at a time when federal funds are short.
The report discussed the proposal in great detail, including the development of technology that would allow total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to be tracked, reported and taxed, as well as the pros and cons of mandating the installation of this technology in all vehicles.
"In the past, the efficiency costs of implementing a system of VMT charges particularly the costs of users' time for slowing and queuing at tollbooths would clearly have outweighed the potential benefits from more efficient use of highway capacity," CBO wrote. "Now, electronic metering and billing are making per-mile charges a practical option.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
I figure the one on the chest can do double duty? Heartbeat Tax
And, oh let me guess, GE will manufacture the monitoring devices?
It ain’t about the revenue, it’s about the tracking. We’ll all be turned into mini Al Capones cheating on the confirmed mileage.
Exactly!
Cheers
More tax and spend from democrats. The GOP House would be crazy to go along with this big brother scheme, let the wingnuts own it.
A better solution for encouraging people to drive more fuel-efficient cars is to impose an excise tax based on engine displacement and physical size of a car--something that has been done in Europe and Japan for several decades.
That's all it's about. They say no information would be transmitted, except for the police who want it, and the juvenile and divorce courts, and the IRS, etc etc.
That's the whole plan. To keep track of our movements AND to decide just who gets to drive how many miles. (Shades of WW11 gas ration books.
I remember back in Carter's orchestrated gas 'shortage', I was living in Calif...the democrap senator from SAn Francisco, who had his own 5 car garage full of Mercedes, remarking that the common people didn't need to be driving around anywhere they wanted to. That is the mindset of the bourgeoisie - still. They really believe they should be controlling the daily lives of the proletarian peasants.)
Their highway miles money is collected from every gallon of gas we buy - it's where it goes and doesn't go from there that is the question.
I have a son who is a longhauler and he can tell when he crosses certain state lines because of the condition of the roads.
Indeed, I have even b een able to tell when talking with him on the cell (calm down, he uses a Blue Tooth) that I can HEAR it.
The common denominator?
Long time republican governed states - smooth roads and great truck stops. The money collected for roads ACTUALLY goes to the roads. What a concept.
Democrap run states: the opposite - like Pennsylvania and Illinois. Their roads are abominable. AND they have the highest gas tax, the most tolls, etc.
WE must NOT let this tax per miles get any traction. They've been trying for sometime.
We all need to keep in mind that when they say that they're going to pass a law, that really means NOTHING. All laws are subject to revision. Both through acts of Congress and conference committees.
Who was it? Lott? that said that laws were made to wash out in conference committees?
The irony of all this is that this kind of measure is being proposed to address declining fuel tax revenues due to several factors, including: (1) more fuel-efficient vehicles (under Federal fuel efficiency mandates), and (2) more and more cars on the road that don't use gasoline (again, under Federal mandates).
How'd Reagan the Great put it? A govt tax is the closest to immortality that most of us will ever see.
Or it gets revised a few years later to make it even more worse.
No satellite signal, car doesn’t start.
The Federal Gas Tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. Money that is supposed to be used *exclusively* to improve highways.
According to the federal government’s energy.gov website the US consumed approximately 140 billion gallons of gasoline in 2004.
140,000,000,000 x .184 = $25,760,000,000.
It seems like you could fix a lot of federal highways for $25.7 billion.
Back when it was first built, the US Interstate Highway system was built entirely from gasoline taxes and user fees.
“HA, even more reason to NOT buy a Prius of Dolt, use less fuel and get punished with new taxes!”
Not that simple. Think about the “V” in VMT, they can tax your F150 at five times the rate of the Prius.
They can tax whoever they want, however they want.
Milegae waivers! I predicted it here three months ago!
The gubmint already gets you on gas, healthcare, food, jobs programs, energy use, etc.....The only thing left was a milegae tax or gasoline vouchers for the disadvantaged.
Not me. What Sam giveth with one hand, he taketh away with the other. They'll make noises about cutting this tax over here, AND THEY WILL!
Unfortunately, it'll just go into a black box over there and it'll be spent on that law clear over there.
That's what is happening/has happened, to the TARP. I'd be surprised if ANY of the funds were returned to the Treasury to pay down the TARP funds. That trillion dollars is all spent and we the taxpayers are on the hook for it.
Trust the govt? Even with GOP in charge????
not on your life. I think the whole thing is going to collapse eventually, simply because it's IMPOSSIBLE to get them to stop spending.
” All laws are subject to revision. Both through acts of Congress and conference committees. “
The latest legislative fad is to avoid the responsibility of ‘legislating’ by writing bills so vague that they leave everything important to the discretion of an unelected, unaccountable, bureaucratic/regulatory body...
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