Here’s something neat. Biden and his new Transportation Secretary are suggesting an awesome way to tax drivers in America.
When President Joe Biden announced former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg as his pick for Transportation Secretary, many scratched their heads. Why would he tap someone who oversaw a small budget, in a small town, in the midwest for such a role? That puzzle is finally coming together.
It turns out that Biden favors Buttigieg’s transportation views, specifically the idea that America should move away from the gas tax and instead opt into a tax based on the number of miles a person travels.
Let me get this straight; his proposal is that in some unfathomable way, they want to keep track of how many mile we drive every day of the year and then tax us on those miles? There are a few immediate issues I have with this…
“I think all options need to be on the table. As you know, the gas tax has not been increased since 1993, and it has never been pegged to inflation, and it’s one of the reasons why the current state of Highway Trust Fund is that there’s more going out than coming in,” Buttigieg said about a potential tax increase. “In the long term, we need to bear in mind also that as vehicles become more efficient and as we pursue electrification, sooner or later, there will be questions about whether the gas tax can be effective at all.”
In the comment above made by Buttigieg, he ends by saying that there won’t be enough money gained through the gas tax as vehicles become more efficient. What does that mean? It means they need to figure out another way to drag money out of our pockets regardless of the vehicle we drive. It also brings up the subject of whether or not vehicles could have better gas mileage but companies don’t allow it because less gas would be purchased.
“A lot has been suggested recently about the idea of vehicle-miles-traveled-based, so if we’re committed to the idea of user-pays, then part of how you might do that would be based on vehicle miles traveled,” he said. “But that raises, of course, concerns about privacy and there remains some technological questions too. These are examples of some of the things that could be part of the solution, but I know that’s going to have to be a conversation, not only in the administration, but with Congress too.”
So in this statement he brings up the subject of privacy. Well, duh. How can they know how many miles I’ve driven during the year without somehow watching me or making car companies add some new technology that tracks me.
I assume that’s what they will do. Like adding uncomfortable headrests to seats to help prevent dramatic injury from whiplash if I happen to crash my car. Never mind the fact the headrests actually cause every day neck pain that can be just as awful.
I guess it’s something to look forward to… another invasion of privacy and more money stolen from my pocket while the wealthy gets richer from the catastrophe of 2020.
