Posted on 03/25/2011 7:10:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Dumb ideas never die in Washington, DC. They just get stuck in committee. Proving that once again is outgoing Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), attempting to revive an idea for a new tax that was so intrusive and unwieldy that even Barack Obama had to disavow it two years ago when his Transportation Secretary starting pushing the notion. Conrad points to a new CBO study saying that taxing Americans on their car mileage will provide a windfall for the federal government:
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.”
The report was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who held a hearing on transportation funding in early March. In that hearing, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the Obama administration is hoping to spend $556 billion over the next six years, much of which would go to federal transportation improvement projects.
A “practical option” for whom, exactly? Perhaps for the IRS, but certainly not for taxpayers. One shudders to think what happens when the IRS gets your annual mileage wrong and a taxpayer disputes the record. Where were you on the night of April 19th, Canarsie? We show you drove 6.3 miles to Bada-Bing Strip Club in New Jersey. Even if exact destinations aren’t recorded (earlier suggestions were to use GPS devices), the taxpayer would get hit with a massive bill during the annual tax-preparation ritual with little or no chance to dispute the claims of the government.
Plus, let’s talk about equipment costs, both private and public. This new tax system would require tracking equipment in every vehicle, which would mean retrofit costs for current vehicles and higher prices for new cars immediately. What are the unemployed supposed to do — stop driving? That should help when it comes to looking for work.
The government will either have to use GPS devices (that will track and record destination data) or install tollbooth passes every few miles on every road in America. The IRS will also have to set up an enforcement bureau to ensure that drivers don’t disable their tracking systems. In California, this meant that every driver had to get semiannual emission-control equipment inspections, an expensive waste of time and money for most drivers. Will the IRS, which is just now branching out into the health-insurance inspection business, add a national DMV bureau as well?
Finally, do we really want to live in a country where the federal government virtually follows you everywhere you go? Growing up in the Cold War, that’s what we were told the Soviet Union was like. It will be the high-tech version of internal travel documents, or at the very least puts that power in the hands of the federal government.
This is the reason we use the gasoline tax for transportation costs. It doesn’t require the government to track the movements of citizens on a moment-to-moment basis, and it doesn’t require any record-keeping for either the drivers or the government bureau. It’s a point-of-sale transaction that proceeds transparently and relieves the taxpayer of a lump-sum burden at the end of the year.
The problem with the federal budget isn’t a lack of resources. It’s a lack of will to use those resources wisely. The government doesn’t need to track the movements of more than 300 million people to squeeze more revenue out of them — it needs to spend less of their money in the first place.
EVERY MILE YOU TAKE, EVERY TIME YOU BREAK, THEY'LL BE WATCHING YOU...
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Oh yeah, taxing the already stretched American taxpayer on mileage, coupled with high and rising fuel cost should go over well.
Why bother with incrementalism, the Dems should just cut to the chase and explain that they want to control every dollar you earn to fund their socialist utopia...
There is NO need to increase tax revenues, there IS a need to cut spending. No one up there seems to have the balls to get it done.
Obviously, the bloated, ugly government monster in D.C. is running out of blood to suck.
Our great grandchildren will probably be fitted with a meter at birth that will register how many breaths they take, and they will pay a Carbon-Emissions Tax on each one.
If they die too young, their families will have to pay a “Failure to Emit Carbon Tax.” The Beast must control and tax every last action of our lives even after death.
They already have a tax based on mileage - the fuel tax.
Now they want to spend billions getting devices installed in cars to get the same effect? What demonrats own the businesses that will get the money?
We’re already paying a tax for that. It’s called the Federal Gasoline Tax.
I will not comply.
EVERY MILE YOU TAKE, EVERY TIME YOU BREAK, THEY'LL BE WATCHING TAXING YOU...
This calls for a Cloward-Piven strategy: massive civil disobedience that will overwhelm the monitoring and enforcement infrastructure. Don’t install the devices. Disable the ones that are installed. If you’re billed, refuse to pay. The sheer weight of the resistance will collapse the system. It will cost far more to implement and enforce than it will ever generate.
Too intrusive ! I feel sorry for the truck drivers on all the intrusive rules and regulations they have to put up with ! The CDL laws where every little ticket even to a parking ticket goes against your license and the CDL rules also apply when driving your private vehicle ! And this would be one of many steps to apply these same rules to non-commercial drivers !
Guys, guys. It’s ‘Brake’ not Break.
Then they will imprison you or kill you. I’m not trying to dash your hopes, but the reality is that it’s easy to talk tough on an internet message board. Putting that talk into action is another thing entirely.
Once a year, at tax time, they can calculate how much allowance we should get and send it to us.
Too bad for us if we can't make do on it.
if America hated the 55 MPH speed limit, they are REALLY gonna loathe THIS one!
Very good for our side if they’re stupid enough to actually try it.
Dang it. You just broak my spirit and self esteem.
Break or brake?
Taxes discourage behavior. Think of this tax as a form of social engineering.
“Conrad points to a new CBO study saying that taxing Americans on their car mileage will provide a windfall for the federal government”
As if that is a good thing. Money diverted from the productive private economy to the destructive government sector is detrimental to the the good of the country.
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