Posted on 01/22/2021 11:19:13 PM PST by pilgrim
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Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg Incoming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has suggested taxing Americans for the number of miles they drive, a policy he endorsed as a Democratic presidential candidate.
The Biden Administration is actively searching for ways to fund its ambitious $1 trillion infrastructure plan.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., acknowledged "privacy concerns" related to implementing a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) system but said it should be considered as a potential replacement for the gas tax.
During Buttigieg's confirmation hearing in the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Thursday, Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott asked him if he would support increasing the federal gas tax, which is currently charged to drivers in addition to state gas taxes. The federal gas and diesel tax is the primary source of funding for the Federal Highway Trust Fund.
"I think all options need to be on the table, as you know, the [federal] gas tax has not been increased since 1993, and it has never been pegged to inflation, and it's one of the reasons why the current state of Highway Trust Fund is that there's more going out than coming in," Buttigieg replied. "In the long term, we need to bear in mind also that as vehicles become more efficient and as we pursue electrification, sooner or later, there will be questions about whether the gas tax can be effective at all."
The state of Virginia has started charging a "highway use fee" to drivers with vehicles that the state government deems "fuel-efficient," including gas and diesel vehicles. The fee varies based on how fuel-efficient the government determines the vehicle to be, and the government can adjust the tax rate as it chooses.
A source in Virginia's Department of Transportation told Just the News last year that VDOT is studying how to implement a system to tax drivers for the specific number of miles they drive, similar to the one Buttigieg has suggested.
Buttigieg said tying the gas tax to inflation as well as the VMT model would be considered by the Biden Administration.
"A lot has been suggested recently about the idea of vehicle-miles-traveled-based, so if we're committed to the idea of user-pays, then part of how you might do that would be based on vehicle miles traveled [VMT]," he said. "But that raises, of course, concerns about privacy and there remains some technological questions too. These are examples of some of the things that could be part of the solution, but I know that's going to have to be a conversation, not only in the administration, but with Congress too."
To implement a VMT system, the federal government would likely have to establish a uniform in-car system for tracking the number of miles a driver travels similar to the EZ-Pass transponder that drivers put in their vehicles to pay tolls.
In 2009, then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated a VMT system, but it never came to fruition.
As a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Buttigieg supported banning the sale of gas and diesel vehicles altogether in the United States by 2035.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the race for her party's 2020 presidential nomination before the first votes were cast, also had a plan to require every vehicle sold in the U.S. to be "zero-emissions" vehicles by 2035. President Joe Biden had a plan to do the same by an unspecified date.
Not sure the number of members, but if every member of FreeRepublic contacted ALL, innie and outie, legislators it could influence the stubborn recalcitrant legislators to stop this agenda!
If we do nothing, they will pass this!
And it is midnight in the Land of Enchantment. Will be back, hopefully in the morning. Lord willing and....
I appreciate Pete B.’s honesty.
It gets worse. Secretary Buttigieg will eventually rule that all drivers must rear end each other at every opportunity.
Don’t we already pay that via gas tax, which penalizes those of us with lower MPG cars?
Ohhh! We’re going to “have a conversation.” That always works out well when rats are in charge, right up until the point they ran home what they wanted to do in the first place.
“taxing Americans for the number of miles they drive”
Because EV vehicles don’t pay the gas tax, but use the roads.
So the straightforward solution is to charge the EV drivers by the mile and leave the other drivers paying by the gallon for the roads.
But politics...
And after that, by the number of breaths you take.
Climate activists have always said that cities are the most efficient ways for humans to live. You can spend your entire life in a city and never get a drivers license. Taxing people for how many miles they drive is just another small push in that direction.
Yeah. Our lines will be, "Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir."
I wonder how many people will hook their car’s odometer cable up to a drill and run it backwards to rewind the miles?
Shove his tax where the sun never shines and see what it does for his sex appeal. (- HOMOnym phobia).
Next they will be taxing toilet paper.
F8CK this little buttf*cker!!!!
I think it is time to buy a older car that you can use propane or wood gas in!
If we are not going to drill our own oil and instead buy it from the middle east or Joe’s buddies in the ukraine....
WORK AROUND THE SYSTEM!
This policy is coming from Braindead Biden, his Marxist VP Kamala “The Mike Lindell Mattress Queen” Harris, and Marxist Peter Buttigieg who knows a lot about driving butt not in a car.
America, you get want who you want and deserve. Now you’ve got to live with them.
[This is going to hurt the poor, the oil/gasoline industry/stations, i.e. workers, commerce (less travel, less sales of items), and employment - in many places blacks, Hispanics and poor whites].
As Comrade Leader Barack Obama said, “Yes I did”!!
They want more than the miles driven, they also want to know WHERE you drove and WHEN. If they know that, then they have a pretty good idea WHY you drove.
No thanks, comrade Pete.
After the last election, if you think your vote counts you're a fool. The people that are now running our government are all flat out control freaks and sociopaths. There is only one way that this can end and I believe you know what is inevitably coming. Got ammo?
I don’t want to subsidize all the eco libtards with their e-vehicles, wearing and tearing the roads but paying no gas tax to pay for that. I already have to pay for the fed subsidy when they buy the vehicle. Time they pay their “fair share”.
Most states have some type of annual inspection where the vehicle mileage gets recorded. Would have no problem if it was just a flat gas tax per mile, lumped into the annual registration renewal.
Yes - a transponder will be installed in your vehicle. It will be GPS enabled and connected to the internet via 5G. All data related to travel in your vehicle will be reported to Fedgov. What could go wrong? This idea has been pushed by states such as Oregon and Washington. It’s very dangerous and should be strongly resisted. Yeah, Pete - we’re gonna have “privacy concerns.”
For 99% of the vehicles on the road that is all electronic, based on pulses from a wheel sensor, so you have to use a OBD tool to reset that. Cables from the trans went out about the time doe-doe birds went extinct.
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