Obama floats plan to tax cars by the mile

[b2r]

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," an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.

thehill.com/images/stories/blogs/flooraction/Jan2011/draftdot.pdf

This follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven.

Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations.

The CBO report was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), who has proposed taxing cars by the mile as a way to increase federal highway revenues.

Obama's proposal seems to follow up on that idea in section 2218 of the draft bill. That section would create, within the Federal Highway Administration, a Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office. It would be tasked with creating a "study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems."

thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/159397-obama-floats-plan-to-tax-cars-by-the-mile

The new office would be funded a total of $200 million through FY 2017 for the project.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Would this be in addition to state vehicle licensing fees, or in lieu of them, I wonder.

Wait, silly me. It's got to be in addition, huh?

Wouldn't it be expensive to install electronic tracking equipment on millions of cars?

[cme1201]

"Wouldn't it be expensive to install electronic tracking equipment on millions of cars?"

It would have to apply only too new cars, older cars, ones already on the road I doubt the government could force me to take my 16yo Mercury Grand Marquis in and have a sensor equipment installed that would worth more than the car.

[frep]

Would this replace the current federal taxes on gas then? If not why spend all the money on little sensors just raise the gas taxes by the $.02/gallon or whatever.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Would the gas station owners be required to foot the cost of installing and maintaining the sensors there? Ludicrous plan....

[burnsattornincan]

If not why spend all the money on little sensors just raise the gas taxes by the $.02/gallon or whatever.

Read the last line of the OP. Another expansion of government with costly infrastructure, high salaries, benefits and pensions. The US needs a revolution and one as violent as possible. Time after time it is proven to be the only way to fix a completely broken governance.

Dalton McGuinty Burns III

[fairlycrazy23]

Congress should tell the President this is a non-starter and not to waste the money on the study.

[Opti]

Sounds like a very bad idea. My guess is it may have to do with the fact that high mileage cars pay less in gas tax for their impact on roadway maintenance and this is one of the "solutions" to that.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

<<My guess is it may have to do with the fact that high mileage cars pay less in gas tax for their impact on roadway maintenance and this is one of the "solutions" to that.>>


Actually, they already pay more. They use more fuel and therefore pay more taxes at the pump by filling up more often. I see this more as an effort to maintain tax revenue as cars become more fuel efficient. I wonder how all the hybrid owners will feel if this goes through and wipes out the savings they were making.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

We already pay per mile. And the incentives are perfectly aligned even if you're one of these dopey anthropogenic global warming types. We pay by the mile in the gas tax, and if you drive a more fuel efficient vehicle, you pay less. Why would we want to switch to a system that charges everyone the same? And FWIW, I'm not necessarily opposed to user-fee type taxes that can be avoided via an adjustment to one's behavior, however-- I'm wary of of government tracking devices, and anything that tracks or restricts movement of free people-- or that COULD track or restrict movement.

[Abby Normal]

A similar idea has been tossed around in Oregon for the last few years. The biggest concern has been exactly what information will be collected. The privacy advocates were up in arms about the government tracking them.

[Opti]

May 5, 2011 10:11:19 GMT -5 Mad Dawg Wiccan said:

<<My guess is it may have to do with the fact that high mileage cars pay less in gas tax for their impact on roadway maintenance and this is one of the "solutions" to that.>>


Actually, they already pay more. They use more fuel and therefore pay more taxes at the pump by filling up more often. I see this more as an effort to maintain tax revenue as cars become more fuel efficient. I wonder how all the hybrid owners will feel if this goes through and wipes out the savings they were making.

What I meant is high mpg cars pay less in gas tax.

[Opti]

"Why would we want to switch to a system that charges everyone the same?"

If we were switching to a system charging everyone the same they wouldn't need tracking devices. I think its an effort to do what we do not do with federal taxes, an attempt to tax based on services used instead of the current subsidy system. Because the impact on road maintenance is about miles
driven, it has nothing to do with how fuel efficient or inefficent a car is. Right now, those with less fuel efficient cars subsidize some of the road maintenance of those driving more fuel efficient cars.

ETA: I do not like the idea of tracking devices. To come up with a more equitable arrangement is going to be more overhead even if its checking the odomoter once a year and billing or refunding the motorists taxes.

[Deleted]

Invasion of privacy. NO reason gov't should have access to how we use our vehicles. Bad enough they have cameras filming us all over the roads, but now they want inside our cars 24/7.

Obviously this would never work for fleet vehicles that run long miles.

Wonder how long until they want mandatory breathalysers in all new cars?

[Deleted]

May 5, 2011 10:44:19 GMT -5 @krickitt said:

Wonder how long until they want mandatory breathalysers in all new cars?

That has been discussed for a long time.

[Deleted]

This reeks of HLS, which so many thought was a good idea..............gov't loves to sneak things in on us in the name of something they think people will like.

[fairlycrazy23]

I'm not sure why we would pick highways as the area we tax on usage, it is simply a way to sell a new tax.

[Cookies Galore]

May 5, 2011 10:11:46 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

We already pay per mile. And the incentives are perfectly aligned even if you're one of these dopey anthropogenic global warming types. We pay by the mile in the gas tax, and if you drive a more fuel efficient vehicle, you pay less. Why would we want to switch to a system that charges everyone the same? And FWIW, I'm not necessarily opposed to user-fee type taxes that can be avoided via an adjustment to one's behavior, however-- I'm wary of of government tracking devices, and anything that tracks or restricts movement of free people-- or that COULD track or restrict movement.

This. I take public transit and barely use my car in a given week, so my wallet hasn't been truly affected at the pump, but hell no would I be okay with the government tracking my movements. My privacy-- your privacy-- is too important.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

May 5, 2011 10:49:34 GMT -5 fairlycrazy23 said:

I'm not sure why we would pick highways as the area we tax on usage, it is simply a way to sell a new tax.

Kind of like a toll road. Use it, you have to pay for it. Yhe problem here in CA is that they keep raiding the state gas taxes for the General Fund instead of putting it into the highways.

[dancinmama]

REALLY BAD IDEA

It is an invasion of privacy. I do not want the government to know how many miles I put on my car and I DEFINITELY do not want any device installed in my car.
- How are they going to install the devices?
- How much are they going to cost?
- Stupid question, but who is going to pay for the devices AND their installation? We are!!

First the government gives people tax incentives to buy hybrids and then they turn around and want to tax the crap out of them.

I WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO GET OUT OF MY LIFE!!

Disclosure: I do not put a lot of miles on my car and I do not have a hybrid (because I do not put many miles on my car).

[dancinmama]

May 5, 2011 11:02:21 GMT -5 Mad Dawg Wiccan said:

May 5, 2011 10:49:34 GMT -5 fairlycrazy23 said:

I'm not sure why we would pick highways as the area we tax on usage, it is simply a way to sell a new tax.

Kind of like a toll road. Use it, you have to pay for it. Yhe problem here in CA is that they keep raiding the state gas taxes for the General Fund instead of putting it into the highways.

Ya, this is typical. Tax us telling us it is going to be spent on something related to the tax and then spend it on something else.

[marshabar1]

Oh yeah. . If it moves, tax it. Talk about layering on taxes upon taxes.

[txbo]

May 5, 2011 10:11:46 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

We already pay per mile. And the incentives are perfectly aligned even if you're one of these dopey anthropogenic global warming types. We pay by the mile in the gas tax, and if you drive a more fuel efficient vehicle, you pay less. Why would we want to switch to a system that charges everyone the same? And FWIW, I'm not necessarily opposed to user-fee type taxes that can be avoided via an adjustment to one's behavior, however-- I'm wary of of government tracking devices, and anything that tracks or restricts movement of free people-- or that COULD track or restrict movement.

You’re joking right. You worry about a tracking device when corporate America the state the police and the government know more about you than you know yourself. Every time you turn on your computer, or your cell phone, the GPS, drive your new car, drive down any city street, go grocery-shopping, get on a toll road, use your CC or just walk down the street. You are being photographed, monitored and scrutinized. Advertisers know what to push because you just checked the price of an item. After all of this you come home and your wife wants to know where the hell have you been.
Last week a local guy here killed his girlfriend, two days later they arrested him at the rim of the Grand Canyon because he had a cell phone.

[workpublic]

will the govt also provide affordable housing near the work centers that everybody commutes to from the sticks(where they can afford to live) or will they force employers to pay more in salary to cover the added expense? or will people who commute by car be forced to give up their jobs?

[Deleted]

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.

What a GREAT idea! (snicker) I told you (long ago) that new & inventive ways of taxing people was coming. This is (of course) going to mostly affect the middle class (the fools that believed him) because the rich could just buy helicopters & be flown back & fourth & the poor wouldn't travel that far. HA HA, I love it, Viva socialism!!

[henryclay]

Oh Dear! Do I see some "pro-Obama" people here objecting to an Obama proposal? And just as he starts his rejection campaign off with a rating jump?

Yeah, oldtex. Viva socialism. Viva Hope, Viva Change.

But I'd say if yu don't want the gummit knowing what your favorite watering hole is, or how often you patronize it, get rid of all those cell phones that already have tracking devices in them.

[EVT1]

Another article on this explained they were considering something like having the states assess the tax based on the odometer readings during annual inspections, and it would take the place of the tax on gas. I would go a step further and add vehicle weight into the equation. It would more fairly tax the wear.

Of course we could just sell off/privatize the roads. I'm surprised some conservatives haven't suggested that one.

[Angel!]

I understand why people don't like the thought they are being tracked. Ignoring the fact that there are already tons of ways to track you in your car....

Could someone explain to me how wanting to tax someone on their actual roadway usage (paying for how much they use) is socialist? It seems that isn't socialist at all, but rather capitalist - you want to use it, then you pay for it.

[hello fromWarsaw]

“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.”

So this has nothing to do with Obama or his administration, and is about a possible study that would last 6 years, and has no chance. Try to remain calm, the great misled.
Speaks more to controversy mad 24/7?365 media that serve us VERY poorly. Let alone Faux News/Rush/bought off Pubs....

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...I mentioned once at a dinner that, at the rate the government was going, it wouldn't be long before they start rationing transportation... I was laughed at... well...