Or in other words, we’ll all drive “taxis”, except for the chosen exempt few.
Obama admin. floats draft plan to tax cars by the mile: ‘A vehicle miles traveled tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven’
…
The plan is a part of the administration’s Transportation Opportunities Act, an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.
It is so spectacularly stupid, I kept waiting for it to show up on snopes.com yesterday. I just couldn’t believe it to be something under consideration. At 500 pages, the idea is one of many in the proposed bill.
Today at 10:15AM EST, the story was updated, and now the White House says this:
“This is not an administration proposal,” White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. “This is not a bill supported by the administration. This was an early working draft proposal that was never formally circulated within the administration, does not taken into account the advice of the president’s senior advisers, economic team or Cabinet officials, and does not represent the views of the president.”
Translation:
…we are shelving the idea until after the 2012 election.
The plan was to put GPS devices on cars that would report the mileage. The Hill writes:
Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations.
I could see a huge black market for “patches and hacks” and other circumventions developing out of this. It would turn millions of people into criminals.
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More about tracking people than taxation. Plan first floated in Oregon a few years ago. If they really wanted money, they’d just raise the gas tax.
How to tax by the mile;
Form 1040:
How many miles did you drive last year ____________
Multiply the amount in the line above by 0.006 enter result here _________
The weird thing is for an average driver getting 25 mpg we are arguing about $100.
Here in the UK, every car over 3 years-old has to undergo an annual MoT test to check its’ roadworthyness. The mileage is faithfully recorded.
Do you have such a thing, or something similar, in the USA?
If so, an annual car tax based on mileage (not something I am opposed to in principal) could easily be imposed without the need to introduce expensive, and intrusive, electronic tracking equipment…..
There will be a need to move toward this form of a road tax as the plugin hybrids and electric cars increase in popularity. They still use the roads but won’t use gas so they need a way to collect road taxes for them that were previously collected as a per gallon gasoline tax.
We already tax by the mile. It is called a gasoline tax. The more you drive the more you pay. What this tax is is a punishment. And a way to tax electrical cars. Which also pay a fuel surcharge on electrical use.
Secretary LaHood is a elite nutcase. He believes that he knows what is right for every individual. What and when they can drive, where they can go, what they can eat, etc. Just reading the proclamations of this leftwing loon makes your skin crawl.
if this guy is so smart….
…why does he keep making the biggest bone head mistakes anyone has ever seen
and what’s happened to Biden…
..did they finally cut his tongue out
Just who made the proposal? One of BO’s czars?
How would this be different than reducing the Standard Mileage Rate?
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=232017,00.html
.
Local UK elections — Christopher Monckton speaking to Scotland via the Alex Jones show in the US. Billions to the Climate Department. Apparently things haver reached a point where Monckton is not allowed to speak on UK media at all, they won’t let him near a microphone, even though his is one of the biggest parties in the election.
Alex Jones 2011-05-04 Part 8/12 (Monckton comes on after Steve Pieczenik, around the 11 minute mark)
part 9/12
. . . and they will also know where you travel to. This is not only a stupid tax proposal, this is an incredible violation of privacy. Electronic monitoring of where you fill up and how many miles you traveled.
Their “electronic equipment” could easily be a GPS device to calculate the miles. Easy. And great to find out everywhere you go.
Mice have a way of “thinking twice” before sticking their necks out to grab the cheese. But always remember, when you’re dealing with vermin they just can’t resist that cheese. Tomorrow is another day! Beware!
They forgot to exempt electric cars. Back to the drawing board.
============
This is not the first time this idea has been floated. Found a story as far back as 2004 where Oregon had apparently toyed with the idea.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001972174_mileagetax05m.html
It was, is and always will be an absolute idiotic idea.
This tax is the ultimate screw you to fly over states. Every town in Wyoming is at least 100 miles from the next one.
*roll eyes* I can see it now.
“Daddy can we go see Grandma for Christmas?”
“I’m sorry little Suezie, we can’t afford the new Obama transportation tax”
It is money. Always more money for the Government.
Sec. 3191. Failure to give up possession of household goods.
Uh oh.
This is insane.
Trains only eh?
No drilling for oil, no NASA launches,
So what’s next – no planes allowed?
No real science allowed, life is to be like the kit that you featured before – chemistry kit with no actual chemicals in it?
Figures on the update…wow. This US admin is something to be vary wary of IMO.
This is an excellent example of the type of watermelon thinking that pervades the Administration. Perhaps it was “never formally circulated within the administration” because it didn’t need to be–it was already mandated from on high. We mustn’t let this go. A resignation is called for.
Can we be fooled into believing this “does not represent the views of the president?” One thing you can be absolutely sure of: the President’s appointees fully represent the Marxist views of the president, or they wouldn’t be there. Out with them all!
“Anything is possible says:
May 6, 2011 at 9:00 am
Here in the UK, every car over 3 years-old has to undergo an annual MoT test to check its’ roadworthyness. The mileage is faithfully recorded.
Do you have such a thing, or something similar, in the USA?
If so, an annual car tax based on mileage (not something I am opposed to in principal) could easily be imposed without the need to introduce expensive, and intrusive, electronic tracking equipment…..”
It can differ from state to state. When I moved to Kansas they only checked to see if my car, which I bought in Texas, had a catalytic converter and the mileage. After that, never had to have it inspected again. When I lived in Texas I had to have my car inspected every year to get a inspection tag, in Texas you have a license plate tag and an inspection tag. So it can differ from state to state.
Oblunder wants people to go back to the horse and cart. (One caveat, the cart will have to be made in China)
How long before cars have government warnings written all over them? I am sure soul-destroying Lisa Jackson is already working on it.
The tax per mile should also be greater for heavier vehicles. Large trucks cause greater road and bridge damage than cars do.
“Fast Eddie says:
May 6, 2011 at 9:23 am
*roll eyes* I can see it now.
“Daddy can we go see Grandma for Christmas?”
“I’m sorry little Suezie, we can’t afford the new Obama transportation tax””
Actually Eddie even if you could afford it, the inboard government nazi tracking device would intervene tell you that the journey was unnecessary and would block any attempt to start the car.
The poster “Anything is possible” is right-on.
Every state in the union has a vehicle inspection sticker for checks on safety. IF tax on miles driven should be applied, this is clearly the cheapest mechanism.
So the proposal for a GPS in every car is a fascist attempt to force everyone to buy new GPS devices from industriaists in bed with an administration who wants ever more control over its subjects. I vote no.
I’m doing my part for global warming. I drive a 4×4 pickup truck that gets about ten miles per gallon and I burn firewood every chance I get.
I hope it warms up soon… this global warming thing isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. It was 34 degrees when I rode my motorcycle to work today (my truck was out of gas… but I digress).
@anything is possible
There was a vehicle inspection law in Florida and Illinois, annually for all cars and trucks regardless of age. Across the street there were always headlight aiming services. Purpose was to assure safe vehicles on roads, discontinued when research showed no improvement in safety–and a healthy resistance from the public.