Posted on 01/14/2013 2:32:31 PM PST by lowbridge
An on-again, off-again move by the Obama administration to scrap the federal gas tax in favor of a pay-per-mile fee would boost the tab to Americans as high as 250 percent, raising their current tax of 18.4 cents a gallon to as high as 46 cents, according to a new government study.
But without a tax increase, said the Government Accountability Office study, the government's highway fund is going to go dry. One reason the fund is going broke: President Obama's push for fuel efficient cars has resulted in better mileage, and fewer stops at the pump.
The GAO study is just the latest review of federal spending that paints a grim picture of the nation's infrastructure. Just keeping spending at current levels, the GAO said, would require a near doubling of the gas tax to 32 cents a gallon, and that would jump to as high as 46 cents should the federal government add spending to fix crumbling infrastructure and build new roads.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I doubt a mere odometer inspection could tell them all that. I prefer the present system, because it's a no-brainer, but was simply speculating about how they'd collect a mileage tax. I suspect it's stillborn, but if they implemented it, I think collection would involve the path of least resistance (in terms of cost and legislative opposition), meaning an annual odometer reading.
“put a GPS tracker in every car.”
How will that cover all of the alternate means of transportation? Here in WA they bring up a bike tax once in awhile. It would make more sense to implant a GPS chip in your body, with everyone having a unique number. Combine it with a universal credit card too so you could buy and sell things. I might be a good idea to tattoo your number on your arm so you don’t forget it.
Trust me. After you’re dead, they will make you pay taxes at least one more time, twice if you include estate taxes.
I’m trying but not following your reasoning. How would people traveling thru or tourists pay nothing. If it’s a charge per mile driven they would be charged. However, it’s not about raising tax dollars anyway, it’s about tracking your movements, don’t fall for the fake.
For you and me...but not for them. Profit is a horrble thing except when the liberal profits.
Everybody is in favor of being "sensible," right?
Tax per mile? No Problem!
Just take the Subway, the EL, Amtrak, BART, MTA or the METRO!
These new taxes will only affect those bitter clingers in flyover country. Truck drivers, road warriors, construction workers moving from project to project, college students going home on break, servicemen on leave, vacationers taking the family to visit the sunbelt or our national parks.
No problems at all with taxing by the mile...
/sarc
I worked for my states DOT as an intern in college (late 80s).
The amount of waste was phenomenal.
My favorite example was the wonderful, specialized, and very expensive road design computer system they showed me when I started. It was turned off. Nobody knew how to use it and there was no funding for a specialized “body” to sit there and operate it. So it sat, in a prominent place in the design area. A nice little monument to government waste, IMHO.
I didn’t know much about computers back then, but PCs were relatively new and this thing had a huge display. I’m sure it was at least a minicomputer of some sort - definitely not in the PC category. This was back when having a color VGA monitor was a pretty big deal.
I’m sure by the time someone actually turned it on and used it, it was obsolete. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was scrapped without ever having been used.
If my state of VA were to eliminate the gas tax and impose a mileage tax instead, none of the tourists that flock to Virginia Beach and Williamsburg nor military with out of state vehicles nor people passing through would pay anything. At least with the gas tax, they pay when they get gas. That was my point. Yes, I know, this particular article is a federal tax, but I am speaking in general.
I would not support anything that tracked my movement... and that would not be necessary even if there was a mileage tax. I would not support anything that wasn’t revenue neutral either, with would include this nugget in the article.
I’ve always said they will always find an excuse to confiscate more money from you, even when you do what they tell you to do.
Government: Buy hybrids, use less gas, save some money at the pump, save the planet.
Sheeple: Okay we’ll buy a premium auto with a high price because of exotic technology. And we are a smaller car that hammers the road less, and we use less gas, we’re good liberals not polluting the planet.
Government: you’re not buying enough gas, we aren’t getting enough taxes from you, we will now tax you by the mile.
Sheeple: But I spent a ton on the car and it’s smaller than other vehicles and I’m saving the planet and using less gas, but you can’t live without the few extra gallons less I use?
Government: yes. Just because you do as we say, doesn’t mean you can’t get away with not paying your fair share. You still use the roads.
Sheeple: But I can hardly haul anything in my car! It is also real dangerous to use being so small and in the winter it’s dangerous to operate.
Government: That isn’t our problem. Our problem is you aren’t paying us your fair share. If you had your old car you’d be buying more gas and paying more taxes.
Sheeple: But wasn’t that part of the whole idea you said about “saving some at the pump”?
Government: No, just saving on gas, not on the taxes we need from you.
Sheeple: but I paid a ton of money up front for the hybrid in the first place! I haven’t saved that extra amount in gas yet!
Government: Not our problem. Didn’t you get our subsidy for hybrids?
Sheeple: yes, but the car was still about 12,000 dollars more than an equivalent, high efficiency small conventional car.
Government: you’re still evading taxes by not filling up as much.
Sheeple: How am I evading taxes if I don’t physically use the gas?
Government: You are physically using the road.
Sheeple: My property taxes pay for my local roads, which are a disaster. The state and federal gas taxes pay for local, state and federal roadwork. I am not undertaxed.
Government: You cannot just use less gas but drive the same amount of miles and not be cheating the government out of money.
Sheeple: well, what if I drive less? What if I stop driving altogether? Then what?
Government: Then we will get the IRS criminal investigation division to investigate you for willful tax evasion.
Sheeple: OMG you are kidding, right?
Government: We never kid about taxes. We’re just here to help you.
I see horses, bicycles, possibly even rickshaws. This putz wants us to live like a 3rd world people so that we all share a “fair” approach to life. He is the most despicable, vile person I have witnessed in my 66 years, bar none.
NO chance the cost of goods will skyrocket. No chance at all.
Idiots, the whole lot.
I see a rise in missing gasoline tankers, unless they’re moving around in armed convoys.
Now Tol, how did you know this article would pique my interest? LOL.
A LOT of conservatives, unfortunately, support the idea of paying by the mile. The Dems LOVE IT, as it gets them the wedge they need to start controlling people’s driving ‘habits’ (as they see it).
Once you have pay by the mile, then you start charging based on the vehicle - obviously a bigger vehicle should pay more (i.e., that F250 doesn’t look as glamorous when you have to pay 20 cents per mile to drive it, does it?). Then you start charging based on time of day - in order to get more people to go to Walmart at 3 AM, when the roads are underutilized (and if thousands of women get raped at that hour, those are the breaks). Then you charge based on the roads they drive - if a road is overcrowded, like US-290 in Houston, then, OF COURSE, charge much more to drive on it. Then you start charging based on income - why should ‘the poor’ have to go broke to drive when (and where) they want, while the 1% doesn’t even notice the cost?
So you tell conservatives that you are simply applying “Market Forces” and half of them fall for it. You tell the other half that you are going to make those 8,000,000 Chevy Volts on the road pay their “fair share” and you have the majority you need to get it going.
But like you said...raise the gas tax a bit, and there’s no issue paying for the roads. But that retains the freedom to drive what we want, when we want, and where we want. Too bad...that upsets the feds, and they will FINALLY take care of that problem.
I am trying to analyze this problem and not just have a quick reaction. Those who use state or federal parks pay a charge to use them. Those who don’t use them (supposedly) don’t pay. If you have a special event that needs police presence, you have to pay for security. The police department is not going to assign 10 officers to personally benefit you. If you travel a toll road, you are paying for the upkeep, while those not using that road do not pay. If someone drives 50,000 miles and I drive 10,000, should he be paying more for the road maintenance he is using? After all, he is causing more wear and tear to the road. Just wondering.
That which does cause me a problem is that they have collected an enormous amount of taxes and not used them for infrastructure. That money they collect from drivers in taxes should be only for that purpose, not a general fund where the give it to the unions.
And then there is the situation with cars that get high gas mileage. They may be wearing out the infrastructure but paying very little for the use of the roads.
They already have a solution for overcrowded freeways: congestion pricing. Just put those gantries up over a crowded freeway and charge more (via vehicle transponders) during rush hours than at other times. Don’t need a satellite.
They wonder why we hate them.
Pass laws to make us burn food for fuel. Kills MPG.
And now want to change the rules because they cannot keep their political payoffs going.
Now they want to take our bullets.
They will never take away our rocks.
They don’t wonder why we hate them. They KNOW why we hate them.
THEY COULDN’T CARE LESS!
They know we the people are going to do nothing to stop them.
They have a green light and are racing toward the finish line.
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