Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Pay Per Mile: A Timely Tax Idea, Or A Privacy Threat?

Obama administration draft proposal for study of mileage fee spurs interest

As transportation officials struggle to raise enough tax dollars to maintain the nation's highway and transit systems, a tentative new proposal could put Americans on the hook for every mile they drive.

Department of Transportation officials have drafted legislation that would study a vehicle tax to track how far drivers travel and charge them by the mile. The proposal would create a “Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office” to conduct trials of the concept.

The draft proposal was first reported this week in Transportation Weekly, a trade publication. A White House spokeswoman told The Hill newspaper that the draft "does not represent the views of the president” and is in no way an administration proposal.

The White House put the brakes on a similar proposal floated early in Obama's presidency, with then-spokesman Robert Gibbs said that a mileage tax "is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't that be a bureaucratic nightmare! I wonder how it is proposed to track every mile and who does the tracking.

Anonymous said...

privacy;privacy;control;control....get it?????????

leave me alone !! enough already!

Anonymous said...

Anyone with a job in sales (my territory is Maryland through New York) would be screwed!

Flerndip said...

If its not a policy why was legislation even drafted in the first place. Why not track how many times I flush the toilet. Or possibly track how many breaths a day I take and tax it. Lets see the government already taxes my beer, my cigarettes, my gasoline, my cell phone bill, my electric bill, my property, my income, my cable bill, my purchases at stores. Hell just make one tax for everyone for being alive. We need to vote people. That is the only way to fix what is happening in this country.

Daddio said...

IF they would simply stop raiding the highway trust funds, there would be plenty of $$$ available for highways and bridges' construction and repairs.

GAS CZAR said...

Obama's GAS CZAR thought of this one and wait to it takes effect based on Obama's excutive orders; forget the Constitution gang your toast now!

Anonymous said...

This really is the only way the rich can get a lot of the poor people out of their way and off the road!

The roads are crowded and the rich are willing to pay by the mile to thin the traffic.

It therefore . . . WILL HAPPEN.

So get ready

They will track all of us with GPS info, and charge us speeding tickets for getting from point A to point B too quickly, etc They will utterly control our ability to travel.

Anonymous said...

This will never make it through the House, so it won't happen.

Anonymous said...

yes I can't wait until all those poor people are taken off the roads. Since I drive a government vehicle I won't have to pay the tax and I can drive everywhere and not have to worry about all you little people slowing me down and getting in my way! I love Barak's thinking on this one!

Anonymous said...

November 2012 HURRY!

Anonymous said...

They already tax us based on how much we travel. It comes from taxing gasoline. If you don't travel using gasoline, you don't pay taxes. If you drive a lot, you buy more gas and pay more taxes. This is just an attempt to know where you are at all times. Wow these people are stupid.