Free Republic

Under a new enforcement provision passed into law earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service can revoke passports of serious tax offenders who owe more than $50,000 to the government. And Uncle Sam can take away your passport at any time, even when the offender is traveling outside the country. [...] The new passport-revoking provision allows the Department of the Treasury and the IRS to authorize the State Department to take away U.S. passports from individuals with seriously delinquent debts, which the government defines as greater than $50,000, the Arizona Republic reported. ...

With EVs and other fuel-efficient vehicles saving consumers money at the pump, Oregon will be the first to issue a per-mile road tax to refill its coffers. Automotive News reports the state will offer two options to its motorists: pay at the pump, or pay a 1.5-cent rate per mile traversed. The latter will be conducted through a device that plugs into a vehicle’s OBD port, then gathers mileage data to determine how much the motorist will pay in tax. Right now, the program — set to begin July 1 — will be implemented by the Oregon DOT in partnership...

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the pro-mass transit policies of the Obama administration today, and fired back at conservative writer George Will, who devoted an entire column to attacking LaHood earlier this week. "We have to create opportunities for people who want to ride a bike or walk or take a streetcar," he said. "The only person that I've heard of who objects to this is George Will." Will wrote a column in Newsweek magazine criticizing the secretary, whom he dubbed "Secretary of Behavior Modification," for supporting measures to wean commuters off automobiles. LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois,...

Got Gas? You'll need it for the 10 worst commutes in the U.S. (LifeWire) - Lost time and endless aggravation are two of the biggest drawbacks of a grueling commute by car. But gridlock on the way to work also harms the environment by pumping extra pollution into the air and wasting precious fuel. How wasteful and time-consuming a commute becomes depends in part on how slowly traffic moves and how long it is stalled, says David Schrank, an associate research scientist at the Texas Transportation Institute, part of Texas A&M University in College Station. Things start to get...

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol says his agency is hampered by its inability to put up permanent checkpoints on roads in southeastern Arizona. David Aguilar told a Senate hearing Thursday that no similar prohibition exists in other border states, but appropriations provisions have required that all checkpoints be temporary and be moved every two weeks in Arizona. Critics say permanent checkpoints, which force motorists to pull off roads leading away from the border for inspections, disrupt trade and traffic. But Aguilar said they have proven effective in other states. Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., is behind the provisions that...