WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee chairman said Tuesday that he wants Congress to enact a mileage-based tax on cars and trucks to pay for highway programs now rather than wait years to test the idea.
Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said he believes the technology exists to implement a mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline.
"Why do we need a pilot program? Why don't we just phase it in?" said Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected to total around a half trillion dollars. -
AP
Here is Democrat Wisdom for you: Can't Raise Taxes, Just Invent a New One!
Outfitting every car and truck in America with tracking devices just to collect more tax has to be one of the dumbest ideas, ever. Cars are already taxed in relation to how much they drive through a tax on gasoline. Sure, the rate is different for everyone, based on how much your car consumes as well as how much city/highway driving you do. However, everyone who drives pays and there is no need to make any changes to the cars (such as adding hundreds of dollars of GPS tracking and metering equipment) as the tax is collected at the pump. People who choose hybrid cars save money because their cars use gasoline efficiently and people who choose gas guzzlers pay more for their style choice. Keeping the car in the driveway costs nothing. One reason Democrats give for having a gasoline tax is to encourage drivers to conserve gasoline. Unfortunately for the rest of us, conserving gasoline means less tax money for Congress to waste. So our reward for being better citizens is more taxes. In this case a tax on every mile that you drive your car.
A mileage tax on cars is like putting a Government-controlled taxi meter in every vehicle in America.
The tax would entail equipping vehicles with GPS technology to determine how many miles a car has been driven and whether on interstate highways or secondary roads. The devices would also calculate the amount of tax owed. - AP
As a bonus, this taxi meter is going to also track where your car has been.
Clearly, the simple solution to generate more tax revenue with a declining demand is to just raise the gasoline tax. There is just one problem the Congressman has with that plan. He can't get anyone to agree to raise it because the idea of doing that is so unpopular with voters. So instead he proposes this idiotic solution to get around this obstacle.
"At this point there are a lot of things that are under consideration and there is also a strong need to find revenue," Oberstar spokesman Jim Berard said. "A vehicle miles-traveled tax is a logical complement, and perhaps a future replacement, for fuel taxes."
Gas tax revenues — the primary source of federal funding for highway programs — have dropped dramatically in the last two years, first because gas prices were high and later because of the economic downturn. They are forecast to continue going down as drivers switch to fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ruled out raising gas taxes to make up for the funding shortfall, and the White House has rejected a mileage-based tax. They have not offered an alternative. -
AP
Watch out when a Congressman does not get his fill of tax. Reasonable minds would look at where the money is going and try to cut out waste, but not this guy. And look where lots of (highway?) tax revenue is going.
The tax credit in question originated from a 2005 highway law and was intended as an incentive to mix alternative energy sources, such as ethanol, with fossil fuels. In 2007, the credit was expanded to include non-transportation fuels.
Some papermakers who generate electricity by burning a wood byproduct called "black liquor" saw an opportunity to capitalize. But to qualify for the credit, which only applies to mixed fuels, paper companies have had to start adding in small amounts of diesel, Mason said.
By doing this, Mason estimates that
the windfall for 30 paper-producing companies in the United States may reach about $6.6 billion and could rise as high was $10 billion. -
MinnPost
So companies that were already using a 'green' byproduct to power their factories, are now being paid a huge subsidy by the Government by twisting a law that was intended to promote the use of 'green fuels'. (Note: I do not blame the companies for doing this.)
Instead of being pissed off at the perversion of a Government program resulting in Billions in wasted tax revenue, this ass of a Congressman has no problem with it, because it subsidizes jobs in his district!
"I think the production of biomass is an important part of energy dependence and good tax policy," said Schadl (John Schadl, spokesman for Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn). "You are not going to see us apologizing for the fact that there aren't layoffs in Cloquet. That is a good use of the tax credit, to keep people in their jobs." - MinnPost
Face it. There is no way that the US will ever be able to provide our pork-addicted Congress with enough tax revenue to meet their agenda. Not only will they turn every car in America into a tax collecting machine, but they will have tracking collars around all our necks before long because you know, once we all get wired up, they are going to need more money and they will realize that this newest tax generation device does not tax us when we are out of our cars.
Hey, my car uses gasoline that contains 10% ethanol. Where do I apply for my tax credit?
P.S.One real screw in this tax meter plan of Congressman Oberstar is that we are already taxed on lots of roads that we drive on. Are they going to tax us for driving through Delaware on I-95
where the tolls per mile cost more than the cost of gasoline to drive through the state? Is this little machine going to tax us for driving on our own property and on local roads and 'unimproved' roadways? And if the answer is that they will not be taxing us on all roads, why should people who do not use them have these meters installed in their cars?
And how are they going to prevent massive fraud by users disabling these machines? That might be as simple as blocking the GPS signal. It would be impractical to integrate these machines to existing cars in a way that would defeat tampering. And if they ever did manage that feat, surely people will just start not registering vehicles because they can't afford the taxes that come with it. This would be a real possibility out west where the distances to be driven are large and the possibility of an encounter with law enforcement minimal. Then again, you register your car with your state, not the Federal government. So would they expect State Authorities to enforce Federal Tax-Meter regulations?
Surely there are many more issues out there that this Congressman is not interested in hearing about.
Links:Top lawmaker wants mileage-based tax on vehicles - AP
Paper firms to reap billions from tax credit -- but should they? - MinnPost--------------------
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