Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
Two years ago, Obama's Secretary for Transportation floated the idea of a "mileage tax" -- in which (and I'm not kidding) citizens are tracked via a GPS system, and then taxed based on their car's mileage.
Two years ago, Obama swatted that idea down.
Now, of course, it seems more attractive. That's the natural result of wasting $1 trillion. Suddenly every revenue idea looks good. Sort of like what I always imagined the Jack in the Box fast food chain slogan should be: "If you're drunk enough, you'll eat it."
If you're broke enough, suddenly it doesn't seem so outlandish to track people in their cars and charge them by the mile. Anything but cut spending.
And now, the idea is back. From The Hill:
The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.
The plan is a part of the administration's Transportation Opportunities Act, anundated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.
The White House, however, said the bill is only an early draft that was not formally circulated within the administration.
“This is not an administration proposal," White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. "This is not a bill supported by the administration. This was an early working draft proposal that was never formally circulated within the administration, does not taken into account the advice of the president’s senior advisers, economic team or Cabinet officials, and does not represent the views of the president.”
Uh huh. Raising taxes, tracking citizens -- this doesn't sound like him at all. Of course, the Feds can turn everything into a bureaucratic nightmare:
The administration seems to be aware of the need to prepare the public for what would likely be a controversial change to the way highway funds are collected. For example, the office is called on to serve a public-relations function, as the draft says it should "increase public awareness regarding the need for an alternative funding source for surface transportation programs and provide information on possible approaches."
The draft bill says the "study framework" for the project and a public awareness communications plan should be established within two years of creating the office, and that field tests should begin within four years.
There'll be a "study framework" and a "public awareness campaign" and "field tests" and eventually, if they have their way, we'll all be paying more taxes. All of us. And that's the key here, isn't it? Obama needs more money to fund his bloated, expanding, intrusive government. But he's checkmated himself -- he keeps talking about raising taxes on the "millionaires and billionaires," but someone must have shown him the math. There isn't enough money there.
So now he has to go after the "hundred-thousand-aires and thousand-aires" until he hits the near-half of the country that pays no federal tax at all. Which also happens to be his base. So where can he get the money?
New taxes, all over the place. Never mind that we're already taxed by the mile, essentially, when you factor in gas taxes. The plan is to nickel and dime us into penury. Anything to keep the federal beast fat and happy.
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Aug '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
Investment angle.
Time for some fascism. I am sure the Federal Government will have a list of approved GPS manufactures based on which manufacture can bribe the most congressmen.
Buy GPS stocks!!!
May '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
Buck: A GPS has got to have an antenna.
And you can still buy aluminum foil... · May 5 at 10:38am
It can't be stopped. Not that way. The technology is too sophisticated and fast-developing.
Our only hope lies in moral resistance. Laws like that must not pass. If they pass, they must not be allowed to stand.
We are not creatures of the state.
Jul '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
katievs, brace Yerself.... I can hear it now: "Driving isn't a Right, it's a privilege."
Apr '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
For the moment, I'll set aside the privacy problem and the question of federal verses state spending for roads. Just look at the cost effectiveness of this. If you simply raise the gas tax, the existing system requires no changes except that a number is changed. This tax-per-mile system would require an electronic recorder in EVERY car. Every gas pump in every gas station would have to be upgraded so that it can read and clear the data from the tattle-tale, and refuse to pump gas into a car that didn't have a tattle-tale. Every dollar spent on this technology is a dollar not spent on fixing the roads.
The argument for this is that electric cars will soon be all over and we need them to pay their fair share. How about we stop subsidizing the purchase of the damn things? We give people thousands of dollars each to buy an EV, then spend millions (or billions?) to reinvent the road tax system to collect taxes on them. I will happily pay an extra dime a gallon to get better roads, but pay-per-mile is ludicrous.
Apr '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
To quote John Wayne from True Grit "Yeah, he's the famous horse shooter from Texas! He believes in putting everybody afoot, thinks there'll be less mischief that way."
Apr '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
James Lileks: iPhones tracking your location and doing nothing with the information: a scandal that requires a stern letter to Apple from Sen. Al Franken.
Government tracking your location and using the information to require a payment which, if not made, will result in fines and/or revocation of driving privileges: something Al Franken would probably vote for. · May 5 at 10:17am
Thanks James, this is exactly what I was thinking.
Mar '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
The central issue is control vs freedom. On the paranoid side, this is technology-of-the-beast stuff.
On the other hand, the complexity of the IT solution to handle this is pretty daunting -- not impossible, but a challenge. This would need a massive transactional database integrated with GIS, billing systems, DMV data. Large-scale government IT projects tend not to go so well.
Dec '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
Keith Preston
What makes you think Congress will ever be allowed to be involved? All he has to do is have the EPA or some other unaccountable Fed agency require it of car manufacturers. · May 5 at 10:22am
True enough, but I will again point to the first line of my post.
I'm a handy fellow. Haven't yet met a device I couldn't rejigger to suit my fancy.
They are welcome to install whatever they want, but I own tools and know how to use them.
I also drive used vehicles, so even if mandated on new cars tomorrow, I wouldn't have to remove one for a decade or more.
We are quickly approaching the point where we're going to have to just stop complying with every new dictate that is issued.
Mar '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
I agree.
But Rob is in favor of a VAT, I think, which is not good. Like this mileage tax, Mr Obama's Czars mention it from time to time, in the hopes that people will fall for it - don't fall for it, they will have it in addition to Income Tax, not to replace it.
So it would be with this mileage tax.
Oh, and yes, you could get speeding tickets every time you go over the limit - also good for Govt. revenue, but not for your Auto Insurance premiums. And more tickets when you do a California stop on a right turn.
And, it will be an offence to drive without a functioning GPS, so tinfoil and tools won't work. The police will have some gadget that will tell them you don't have a GPS reporting back to Big Brother, and would pull you over, much as they do now if you are using your cellphone.
Probably someone will come up with some software that makes the GPS think it is going nowhere...
Winning the Future!
Edited on May 5, 2011 at 9:38pmAug '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
That's not the reason, because gasoline taxes could be raised along with registration fees. No, it's a bid to gain control over everything we do, just like with Obummer-Care. It will all be accomplished because "It's good for you!"
There are people - a lot more of them now than there used to be in America - who crave power and control over you. Too many of us are willing to acquiesce.
Aug '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
CoolHand
Keith Preston
What makes you think Congress will ever be allowed to be involved? All he has to do is have the EPA or some other unaccountable Fed agency require it of car manufacturers. · May 5 at 10:22am
True enough, but I will again point to the first line of my post.
I'm a handy fellow. Haven't yet met a device I couldn't rejigger to suit my fancy.
They are welcome to install whatever they want, but I own tools and know how to use them.
I also drive used vehicles, so even if mandated on new cars tomorrow, I wouldn't have to remove one for a decade or more.
We are quickly approaching the point where we're going to have to just stop complying with every new dictate that is issued. · May 5 at 12:17pm
Coolhand,
Like you, I'm handy. But this kind of thing could be built into the software programs that run your engine. It simply wouldn't run unless it had the GPS satellite connection - like your cellphone. This is BAD.
Mar '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
River
They have already thought of that - there is gonna be a special tax on electric cars, to compensate for the lost gas tax revenue. Of course, the mileage tax would also work - that may be their reasoning.
Edited on May 5, 2011 at 9:46pmMay '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
Canuckski
The central issue is control vs freedom. On the paranoid side, this is technology-of-the-beast stuff.
On the other hand, the complexity of the IT solution to handle this is pretty daunting -- not impossible, but a challenge. This would need a massive transactional database integrated with GIS, billing systems, DMV data. Large-scale government IT projects tend not to go so well. · May 5 at 12:09pm
Put me down somewhere between paranoia and informed good sense. I only know enough about technology to be uncomfortably aware of how much I depend on it and how little I understand it--and how mind-bogglingly much more it can do than it could do ten minutes ago.
Dec '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
River
Coolhand,
Like you, I'm handy. But this kind of thing could be built into the software programs that run your engine. It simply wouldn't run unless it had the GPS satellite connection - like your cellphone. This is BAD. · May 5 at 12:41pm
I have a solution for that as well.
It is called a carburetor.
Cars existed for half a century without any electronics at all inside them.
That can become the case again, if needs be.
Mar '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
You'll still be able to drive after the EMDs go off, too...
Dec '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
Canuckski
You'll still be able to drive after the EMDs go off, too... · May 5 at 2:24pm
This has occurred to me as well, yes.
There is something to be said for caveman tech in SHTF scenarios.
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
David Williamson
I agree.
But Rob is in favor of a VAT, I think, which is not good.
Well, I'm on the fence about the VAT. I'm a fatalist about taxes. They're going up. But what I hate about the current system is that it isn't across the board. It's half of the country looting the paychecks of the other half. A VAT (or sales tax) would at least apply to everyone. That's a huge improvement.
Jan '11
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
My question is: All those people who were losing their minds over the Bush administration being able to tell what library books they checked out are going to be perfectly okay with the government installing tracking devices in their cars that will tell them where they are at all times?
May '10
Re: Obama's New Tax: You Pay by the Mile
Rob Long
David Williamson
I agree.
But Rob is in favor of a VAT, I think, which is not good.
Well, I'm on the fence about the VAT. I'm a fatalist about taxes. They're going up. But what I hate about the current system is that it isn't across the board. It's half of the country looting the paychecks of the other half. A VAT (or sales tax) would at least apply to everyone. That's a huge improvement. · May 5 at 4:01pm
But where is the tipping point where a tax becomes a theft? Stealing from everyone is still stealing even if the government declares it legal. I think we're getting closer and closer to that point all the time.