Unreal.......

[onegunguitar]

The government is entertaining a new tax, one that’s based on how many miles you drive. And not only would you have to pay the tax, but you would also be required to install an electronic device in your car to track your miles, and the government would have to create a whole regulation office.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

From The Hill:

The plan is a part of the administration’s Transportation Opportunities Act, an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.

[...]

News of the draft 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.

[...]

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.”

According to the White House, the bill is not an official proposal and hasn’t been widely circulated.

“This is not an administration proposal,” White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki told The Hill. “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.”

[bassist_25]

Interesting...but I honestly can't see this ever getting passed.

[Charltor]

yeah read about this today....with more and more electric vehicles on the road ,think of all the taxes on fuel they will be losing with less fill ups, so you know they will figure a way to rape you one way or another. Tax the working man more whose trying to get to work to earn a living, while the welfare bums continue to get paid to lay around and do nothing and suck the government tit dry. Yeah the American Dream.

[Killjingle]

america the beautiful; the land of the free
the land of the bullshit and hypocracy

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... =hypocracy

[heartsshadow]

I received a copy of the american dream today..it was awesome till I got to the fine print...*may be subject to surpayment-fines-and other taxes that may in fact randomly pop up because we decided you make to much money" yes indeed

[songsmith]

I heard about this on McGinnis' radio show. He's all for it, and even wants to make taxes on certain roads higher at certain times of high travel. He says this will lessen "congestion." He wants to privatize all govt run infrastructure, and limit access during the day. He also told me that business would be exempt, so the only people to pay would be those going to and from their jobs (which seems unfair to me, to charge some people for making a living).
What he hasn't thought of are two GIANT flies in the ointment:
There's no way the govt can prove that you were on a certain segment of highway at a certain time, without KNOWING WHERE YOU WERE AT A CERTAIN TIME. Do you want the USGov to have your tracking data? I'm not afraid of my govt, but I don't want them having that info. There's no way that can be construed as MORE FREEDOM, as he noted.
The other thing is, ANY system would involve billions of dollars per state in hardware (both transponders and receivers), more govt employees , and charges to install said hardware in your car, as well as periodic compliance-checks to make sure you didn't just turn the damn tracking chip off. Where are those billions coming from? If we have money to accomplish this, why not just use that for roads?

[Jim Price]

With the travel I do covering local music, this tax would likely put me out of business...

[TheBMC]

....... while the welfare bums continue to get paid to lay around and do nothing and suck the government tit dry. Yeah the American Dream.

yes agreed, welfare needs "fixed" ... i'm sure their are a select few who truely NEED it. it's time for some people to figure out the difference between "need" and "want".


second thought from this post...... where do i get in line for my chip implant? seems to be the way it's going right? so much for freedom.

and...

jp- i drive a lot too... my employer would need to make major adjustments for me to be able to continue to do this job if we get taxed for driving... ugh. It's bad enough with the gas price increases yet to come.

Though I don't see that sort of tax passing, how does a group prevent it from happening short of sending letters to your representatives (which I've done for other issues). .. and does that really help?

[f.sciarrillo]

They been saying this for a couple of years now. It hasn't passed yet. It is rather idiotic if it does. That just means the Big Brother will be tracking your every move, well, tracking your every move more than they are now.

Next they will want to attach a walking tax. I thought too many taxes was one of the reasons why the settlers came to this country? This is just way over the top.

[Banned]

I thought Obama was looking out for the little guy, the middle class guy. This tax will hurt the middle class more than most, they actually have to drive to go to work. Or will they only take taxes for those earning more than $250,000 per year? No it will take money from all. And this is an idea from the White House, from Obama. Hope and Change.

[onegunguitar]

Obama is an idiot along with the rest of his admin.

[songsmith]

Actually, this is not from Obama's Admin. Believe it or not, it's a proposal by some joker from the CATO INSTITUTE, which floored me. It makes zero sense. Even McGinnis' callers shot this down immediately. He tried to resurrect the topic the next day, and they shot it down again. I think, in their minds, the whole system will be run by private enterprise, but any tax is collected by, or at least given to, the govt. Otherwise it wouldn't be a tax, right? And this is on top of all the loss of freedom, and expense, that even I can't abide.
Very confusing, or very corrupt, it seems.

[onegunguitar]

Actually, this is not from Obama's Admin. Believe it or not, it's a proposal by some joker from the CATO INSTITUTE, which floored me. It makes zero sense. Even McGinnis' callers shot this down immediately. He tried to resurrect the topic the next day, and they shot it down again. I think, in their minds, the whole system will be run by private enterprise, but any tax is collected by, or at least given to, the govt. Otherwise it wouldn't be a tax, right? And this is on top of all the loss of freedom, and expense, that even I can't abide.
Very confusing, or very corrupt, it seems.

It doesn't matter,he's still an idiot If he gets elected another term,this country is doomed.......

[Hawk]

Cynics You guys crack me up. If anything is negative IT must be TRUE. If anything is positive. IT must be a LIE.





Do you run your whole life like that ? Do you treat your spouse with the same cynicism ? Your friends ? Your fellow workers ?

Lighten up. Enjoy your life...

[RobTheDrummer]

We are turning into the country our forefathers ran away from....

[lonewolf]

{hmmmm...time to order...

gunpowder
casings
hollow points
c4
M80's (cheap detonators)
kevlar.....}

[bassist_25]

We are turning into the country our forefathers ran away from....

The "founding fathers were super-duper, infalliable demigods" metanarrative that people return to when the country takes a direction they don't personally like has really started to wear on me as I get older.

[Killjingle]

The "founding fathers were super-duper, infalliable demigods" metanarrative that people return to when the country takes a direction they don't personally like has really started to wear on me as I get older

Agreed.


Most elected officials, kings, dictators, throughout time have probably been total fuckwads. There are the haves and the have nots. If you are are a have not like most of the world you are going to be angry at the haves. This is just another tool to control the have nots.

[lonewolf]

We are turning into the country our forefathers ran away from....

The "founding fathers were super-duper, infalliable demigods" metanarrative that people return to when the country takes a direction they don't personally like has really started to wear on me as I get older.

Change direction? Fine! The proper way to do that is thru constitutional amendment, not by extorting the Supreme Court.

http://constitutionalawareness.org/genwelf.html

[RobTheDrummer]

I'm just saying, what the hell isn't taxed today? Why does the gov't have to take a bite out of everything you do? Because they have no idea how to spend money? Makes sense.....

[bassist_25]

We are turning into the country our forefathers ran away from....

The "founding fathers were super-duper, infalliable demigods" metanarrative that people return to when the country takes a direction they don't personally like has really started to wear on me as I get older.

Change direction? Fine! The proper way to do that is thru constitutional amendment, not by extorting the Supreme Court.

http://constitutionalawareness.org/genwelf.html

I'm not bagging on the Constitution. My point is that whenever the country goes into a different direction - even in a direction that is not under the purview of any law, constitutional or otherwise - people often invoke the founding fathers metanarrative as if it somehow is a legitimate argument against whatever is taking place.

With that said, I'm a legal realist, so for me, legislation itself, while not inherently meaningless, generally lacks a lot of substantial meaning without interpretative case law.

And Rob, I actually agree with you on this one. Like I said earlier, I realistically can't see this law ever getting passed. I can't see either the majority of Republicans or Democrats getting on board with this. I could be wrong, but I'm not losing sleep over this one.