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More Congress Critters Want To Track And Tax Your Driving Habits
from the why? dept
For years, various state politicians have pushed the idea of a "mileage tax" for driving, and it's never made much sense at all. Yet, just a few months ago, we noted that some politicians in the federal government were pushing the idea as well -- even though the Obama administration said it would not approve such an idea. Still, that's not stopping some politicians. Rep. James Oberstar is so strongly in support of a plan, he says he doesn't want any pilot programs, studies or information about such a plan, he thinks it should just be implemented right now.
Of course, these plans have never made much sense at all. They would be crazy expensive, in that every car would need to be outfitted with a GPS device, and then that info would have to be communicated to the government (certainly something of a privacy concern). And, the really silly thing is that we already have a much better and cheaper proxy in place: gas taxes. Not only that, but the gas tax at least encourages people to use more fuel efficient vehicles, and increases the demand for alternative energy vehicles. So it's difficult to come up with a single viable reason for a mileage tax, but that's apparently not stopping Oberstar from demanding that it be started right now.
