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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 59,181 Likes: 3
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 59,181 Likes: 3 |
I know, but I could honestly support taxing by Mileage if they would drop the consumption tax. Les Not me.. You really think this GPS thing is ONLY going to record miles?? Big Brother's just foaming at the mouth to get this done...
Ex- USN (SS) '66-'69 Pro-Constitution. LET'S GO BRANDON!!!
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 28,265 Likes: 3
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 28,265 Likes: 3 |
Top lawmaker wants mileage-based tax on vehicles Email this Story
Apr 28, 2:57 PM (ET)
By JOAN LOWY
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.
A congressionally mandated commission on transportation financing alternatives recommended switching to a vehicle-miles traveled tax, but estimated it would take a decade to put a national system in place.
"I think it can be done in far less than that, maybe two years," Oberstar said at a House hearing. He was responding to testimony by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who recommended that the transportation bill include pilot programs in every state to test the viability of a mileage-based tax.
Blumenauer said public acceptance, not technology, is the main obstacle to a mileage-based tax.
Pilot programs "would be able to increase public awareness and comfort and it would hasten the day we could make the transition," Blumenauer said.
Oberstar shrugged off that concern.
"I'm at a point of impatience with more studies," Oberstar said. He suggested that Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the highways and transit subcommittee, set up a meeting of transportation experts and members of Congress to figure out how it could be done.
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.
"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.
"The funding of the highway trust fund is a complex issue that will require consultation with Congress and consideration of a number of creative ideas," said Transportation Department spokeswoman Jill Zuckman. "The secretary looks forward to working with Chairman Oberstar and others as they consider how to keep the highway trust fund going."
A mileage-based tax has been unpopular in some states where it has been proposed. Critics say it unfairly penalizes drivers who live in rural areas and intrudes on privacy.
"When we can solve the equity issues to a majority's satisfaction in the Congress, when we can solve the privacy issues to the satisfaction of the American people, we can look at moving forward, but I just don't think we have the data or the experience right now to say we can set a timeline or a deadline," DeFazio said in a recent interview. Well I think is sucks, who will this effect the most? The people who can't afford to live near the jobs so they must relocate and commute. In our area a large part of the employment force works in the San Jose area where there are tons of jobs, however homes in the San Jose area are some of the highest in the nation with the exception of SF. So those who can't afford homes in San Jose commute many miles a day to their homes in bedroom communities. Those with the high paying jobs that can afford to live in SJ or SF will not be effected, it will be the middle and lower class people who must commute fifty or more miles a day paying the brunt of this new tax.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 54,842
Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 54,842 |
Shoot if you are on their radar buddy, think they can't track you by other means?
Back in the heartland, Thank God!
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 28,265 Likes: 3
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 28,265 Likes: 3 |
A congressionally mandated commission on transportation financing alternatives recommended switching to a vehicle-miles traveled tax, but estimated it would take a decade to put a national system in place.
"I think it can be done in far less than that, maybe two years," Oberstar said at a House hearing. Ya, but it takes ten years to get an oil rig up and producing, right? These people have no limits to their tax fixations.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 19,281 Likes: 6
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 19,281 Likes: 6 |
We're 12 trillion in debt and the liberals want more government programs like free health care. They will do anything to get the money except use common sense. Every other country uses gasoline (user) taxes to pay for health care. We are next. kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
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