Well I will give Obama one here.

[Fisherman_Wantabe]

Obama nixes plan to tax motorists on mileage


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Feb 20, 10:33 PM (ET)

By JOAN LOWY
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama on Friday rejected his transportation secretary's suggestion that the administration consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy.
"It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, when asked for the president's thoughts about Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's suggestion, raised in an interview with The Associated Press a daily earlier.
Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood told the AP.
"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said in the AP interview.
LaHood spokeswoman Lori Irving said Friday that the secretary was speaking of the idea only in general terms, not as something being implemented as administration policy.
Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles-traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.
The idea also is gaining ground in several states. The governor of Idaho is talking about such a program. A North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax. Rhode Island's governor, however, has expressed opposition to a panel's recommendation in December that the state charge motorists a half-cent for every mile driven in addition to the gas tax.
A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.
Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in Obama's Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.
"What I see this administration doing is this - thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America," he said.
LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the federal gasoline tax in the current recession.
The program that funds the federal share of highway projects is part of a surface transportation law that expires Sept. 30. Last fall, Congress made an emergency infusion of $8 billion to make up for a shortfall between gas tax revenues and the amount of money promised to states for their projects. The gap between money raised by the gas tax and the cost of maintaining the nation's highway system and expanding it to accommodate population growth is forecast to continue to widen.
Among the reasons for the gap is a switch to more fuel-efficient cars and a decrease in driving that many transportation experts believe is related to the economic downturn. Electric cars and alternative-fuel vehicles that don't use gasoline are expected to start penetrating the market in greater numbers.
A blue-ribbon national transportation commission is expected to release a report next week recommending a VMT tax.
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.
The device would tally how much tax motorists owed depending upon their road use. Motorists would pay the amount owed when it was downloaded, probably at gas stations at first, but an alternative eventually would be needed.
Rob Atkinson, chairman of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, the blue-ribbon group that is developing future transportation funding options, said moving to a national VMT tax would take about a decade.
Privacy concerns are based more on perception than any actual risk, Atkinson said. The satellite information would be beamed one way to the car and driving information would be contained within the device on the car, with the amount of the tax due the only information that's downloaded, he said.

Maybe

[LBM]

Thought I read somewhere that what BHO said had an expiration date with it.

[Fisherman_Wantabe]

Thought I read somewhere that what BHO said had an expiration date with it.

could be true, we'll just have to wait & see.
I travel way to much, this kind of tax would kill the service
side of our business. Just think about all the hot-shot rigs and truckers, that's alot of miles.

[Cane Pole]

The Lord giveth and the lord taketh away. I read this somewhere. Maybe one of Aesop's fables.......

Maybe Daddy Os fables...

[Mrs. Crappie Stalker]

I heard on the news that they were already testing this in Oregon and Mass. with the gps chips.

The message here is clear - we can't just wait and see what comes next. We, as citizens and voters MUST CONTACT OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS. If enough of their constituency rears up and says HECK NO, our senators and representatives will think twice before passing this kind of crap. It has worked before and it's the most productive way we can make our voices heard.

[Fatman]

First time somebody tries to charge me for miles driven is gonna get a straight right hook in the jaw!!!!!!!! My round trip for work to go to a Govt job every day is 102 miles.

Fatman

[Gadget Man]

First time somebody tries to charge me for miles driven is gonna get a straight right hook in the jaw!!!!!!!! My round trip for work to go to a Govt job every day is 102 miles.

Fatman

If my math is correct 102 miles at $.0025 equals $0.255 per day. If you multiple that by five days per week it equals $1.275. Assuming a two week vacation and no allowance for sick days, work week (usually Monday) holidays this will raise approximately $63.75 per year.

A commute of 102 is probably on the upper end for most. Less than $65.00 per year seems to be a very small amount.

I commute approximately 1 mile each way per day for work. My wife is closer. For comparison lets say we travel four miles per day at the same rates. We would owe less than $.75 for the year based on our commute. Would there be an "alternative minimum tax" for people that don't travel much?

I know everyone uses their vehicles for other uses also. I was just using the commute as a comparison.

How much do you think the equipment and system to collect this tax will cost? Will there be "Odometer Audits" down the road?

I think insurance companies already survey their clients occassionaly to make sure the mileage on the vehicle corresponds to the number of miles the customer indicates they travel annually...you don't think insurance companies would take advantage of this tax record to adjust premiums do you?

[Fisherman_Wantabe]

If my math is correct 102 miles at $.0025 equals $0.255 per day. If you multiple that by five days per week it equals $1.275. Assuming a two week vacation and no allowance for sick days, work week (usually Monday) holidays this will raise approximately $63.75 per year.

A commute of 102 is probably on the upper end for most. Less than $65.00 per year seems to be a very small amount.

I commute approximately 1 mile each way per day for work. My wife is closer. For comparison lets say we travel four miles per day at the same rates. We would owe less than $.75 for the year based on our commute. Would there be an "alternative minimum tax" for people that don't travel much?

I know everyone uses their vehicles for other uses also. I was just using the commute as a comparison.

How much do you think the equipment and system to collect this tax will cost? Will there be "Odometer Audits" down the road?

I think insurance companies already survey their clients occassionaly to make sure the mileage on the vehicle corresponds to the number of miles the customer indicates they travel annually...you don't think insurance companies would take advantage of this tax record to adjust premiums do you?

Yea for the FEW that don't drive no more than that it mite be ok. But they would not be trying to get it (the taxes) if it was so little of money. But in my line of work and a whole lot of other people I know it would be 100 times your figures. I myself in a normal year just for work put any where from 35,000 to 45,000 miles a year on my work truck. That's $100 a year just for my work truck @ 40,000 a year we have 3 work trucks total. Then add in my wifes car, my small beat around truck, it would cost around $500 a year. And I'm just a small company, just think about all the Hot Shooters and truckers, we are talking big money here.
No way I'm paying this crap, our fuel is already taxed to much as it is.
And I also think the Ins companys would jump right in and try and get their's.
Working man just can't win