Fox
News...
Will We Soon Be
Paying Taxes On Every Mile We Drive, Too?
By Doug Heye
May 10, 2011
When Republicans get together they talk a lot about how much Democrats
love to find new and novel ways to raise taxes. This talk could almost
risk becoming a worn-out cliché, except that when it comes to new ways
to tax Americans, Democrats just can’t help themselves.
Case in point: as if the money collected from income taxes, corporate
taxes, excise taxes, death taxes, gas taxes and the like were not
enough, the White House is now floating a new tax trial balloon: taxing
automobiles on a per-mile-driven basis. What’s that all about, you ask?
It means that, if the White House and Senate Budget Committee Chairman
Kent Conrad have their way – you would be taxed when you buy your car,
pay taxes for the gas you put in your car and then be taxed on every
mile driven, while using your car. In other words, the government would
literally get you coming and going.
The White House, of course, says it does not support such a tax, nor
would it even support the proposal it has proposed.
“This was an early working draft proposal that was never formally
circulated within the administration,” a White House spokeswoman said.
Perhaps this lack of, uh, formality (similar to informally meeting a
lobbyist at a nearby Caribou Coffee to skirt those pesky, and formal,
openness and transparency rules) is because the White House knows the
public is not eager for any new taxes, especially, at a time when gas
costs $4 per gallon, or for anything else from the government that
would make automobile travel more expensive. No doubt the White House
and Democrats believe that while the petulant children they see as
today’s taxpayers do not want to take this “medicine,” it is in their
best interest. But for the public to swallow this, it will require a
full court press – something the draft proposal would make provisions
and appropriations for.
The $300 million study the draft proposal calls for would seek to, and
I’m quoting now from the draft itself, “increase public awareness
regarding the need for an alternative funding source for surface
transportation programs and provide information on possible approaches.”
Translation from Legislation-Speak: “Open wide for propaganda telling
you why you should pay a new tax and why you will be grateful for
paying it.” This propaganda has, of course, been paid for by you.
And while the tax itself would surely be unpopular, the potential
implementation of a per-mile road tax could prove even more
objectionable. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has suggested the
Vehicle Miles Traveled tax – yes, the VMT – could be calculated by
installing an electronic device in each individual automobile to
calculate the miles driven.
This poses real problems: Who would pay for such equipment? Would it be
incumbent on a car owner to purchase one at a local DMV or even an Auto
Zone? If so, would there be a rebate, similar to the H.D. converter box
rebate? Or, would such a device be included with the purchase or lease
of a car, leading to a “Vehicle Mileage Meter” fee added to the price?
However the logistics were worked out, the answer to the question
of who would pay for the device is easy: it’s YOU. No doubt that
would be a problem, too, for you.
More substantively, the government-mandated electronic devices could
potentially track a driver’s movements. As the recent controversy over
iPhones tracking their users’ locations demonstrates – and those
critical of reauthorization of the Patriot Act would no doubt quickly
echo – any such government “electronic bracelet” would be unacceptable.
As we head toward Memorial Day weekend later this month and the start
of America’s peak travel season, it’s not hard to envision some of the
real-life problems the proposal would cause: practically guaranteeing
fist fights over whose car would be driven on long road trips so as to
save a few bucks (Maybe the proposal could be called the “No, Dude,
You’re Driving Act of 2011”) – and just think how that would drive up
health care costs.
A veteran of political campaigns throughout the nation, Doug Heye has
served as a press secretary and communications director in the United
States Senate, House of Representatives and the Executive Branch. He
most recently served as Communications Director for the Republican
National Committee.
Read it at Fox News
|
