WOW! The government basically watching every mile I drive. NNNNOOOOOO WAY THIS WILL BE ABUSED!! - Rocket River http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_re_us/mileage_tax
According to Webster's... liberalism: 1. (in a political context) favoring maximum individual liberty in political and social reform 2. Theology regarding many traditional beliefs as dispensable, invalidated by modern thought, or liable to change. fascism 1. An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. (a). (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice. Clearly, your choice of words do not go together.
i think going with the gps option is a poor idea, however a mileage tax to replace the current gas tax is worth exploring. rather than using GPS, you should just have to file miles driven when filing taxes. for those too lazy to check the mileage driven, there could be a standard 15-20,000 miles tax/deduction. is that idea doable?
Actually I think it is a libertarian conservative idea. They hate taxes and only grudgingly accept user taxes. I think any scheme to tax Hummers and Priuses the same for road use is shockingly anti-environment.
Would be easy to simply report your mileage every year and multiply some factor related to your fuel efficiency to arrive at a tax. Then the prius benefits, and people who live near their jobs, and do less damage to the highways, also benefit. And LOL at liberal/fascist blah blah when this idea is coming from members of both parties. This old Limbaugh language is going to start to wear like bell bottom jeans and mutton chops. Already is, actually.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln
I don't like this because it will especially penalize lower income workers. Many lower income workers can't afford to live near where they work, so they have to commute further. A tax like this will only add to their expenses.
Yeah, and even my idea of figuring in fuel efficiency is unfair to them. They can't afford to live near their jobs, and they can't afford things like hybrids... Good point.
this is why income is factored in when filing taxes in april. if perhaps you make more than $15k/yr or whatever the poverty line is, then maybe you don't have to pay the tax on the first 10k miles driven. we already have a progressive tax system, it doesn't seem too difficult to implement this in to it.
Shockingly, I agree. I believe that if the end goal is to have fuel efficient vehicles, tax the everliving hell out of vehicles that get less than 25MPG at the point of sale. When you tax gasoline, it hurts everybody. When you tax the monstrosity that gets 18MPG, you are targeting that which has been stated is the main culprit. Taxing mileage? That would require a significant enforcement mechanism if there is self-reporting. Installing a GPS in each vehicle that govt has access to, IMO does not pass Constitutional muster.
Unfortunately that is not the goal. One of the reasons for the Oregon resolution is because people actually were buying more fuel-efficient cars and using less gasoline. They have to make up the revenue somehow. If changing people's behavior was the actual goal, then the politicians would just declare victory and move on. That's why I'm wary of these "behavior" taxes. It's just a smokescreen to get more $$. I found out recently that the California tobacco taxes were being used to build a local public preschool for poor kids. All revenues were supposed to be used for anti-tobacco marketing. What's going to happen when smoking drops and the revenue source drives up? Maybe they'll implement an "air" tax. The analogy isn't perfect with gas and mileage but there is a relation there.
The gps part seems a little short sighted. What about cars that are being towed or transported? We can't just have some type of tamper proof odometer?
This is not surprising. Government at all levels has stated that certain taxes were to go to certain projects, but it seldom happens. See the state lottery in most places it has been enacted. Usually, those in favor sell it as funds to go for education, but that rarely ever happens in any meaningful way. This still is not Constitutionally ok. Where you drive or how often is entirely your business unless there is probable cause that you have committed a crime. The same "right to privacy" that became the basis for Roe v. Wade will be used to shoot this down. WAY to intrusive into your life.
