Let's Kill This Proposal Right Now

There is no way in hell the American people will stand still for Federal odometer checks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.

This has to be one of those proposals designed to get us looking the other direction while they pick our pockets elsewhere. Can you imagine the anger this would provoke? Even the lefty-biased AP picks up on this undercurrent in its report.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said.
...
The idea also is gaining ground in several states. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and a North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.

A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.

While a quarter-cent per mile isn't a huge tax, there's no guarantee a federal tax would not be higher. Also, I don't see anyone proposing we get rid of the fuel tax if the VMT is implemented.

As George Hanson (Jack Nicholson) said in Easy Rider (1969), "This used to be a damn fine country."