Obama Mulls Mileage Tax for Drivers

Republicans and conservatives warned of high taxes and invasive government as the result of the election of Obama, even as Obama ran on a platform of lowering taxes and smart leadership.

It comes as no great surprise then, when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tells the Associated Press that the Obama administration is considering taxing drivers based on the number of miles they drive rather than on how much gasoline they burn.

“We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled,” LaHood said in an interview. “What I see this administration doing is this—thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America.”

While gasoline taxes are simply calculated at thousands of pumps that have been inspected and certified, you can be sure of the high expense, massive size, and invasive scope of bureaucracy needed to do the same with the hundreds of millions of vehicles subject to the calculation of taxes.

The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.

How would the collection of taxes by the mile be more efficient than collecting taxes at the pump?

It wouldn't be more efficient; it would however, simply allow government to have more control over us in our daily lives.

And perhaps that's the point....

Source.