Newsday.com AP Interview: Transportation secretary says taxing how much we drive may replace gasoline tax
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press Writer
12:39 PM EST, February 20, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.
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 said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"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.
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. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and 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.
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 President Barack 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.
"One of the things I think everyone agrees with around reauthorization of the highway bill is that the highway trust fund is an antiquated system for funding our highways," LaHood said. "It did work to build the interstate system and it was very effective, there's no question about that. But the big question now is, We're into the 21st century and how are we going to take care of our infrastructure needs ... with a highway trust fund that had to be plussed up by $8 billion by Congress last year?"
This is the stupidist idea to come out of Washington. Obama really needs to get a different head of Transportation because the guy has proven he has no education.
The concern about GPS is the privacy and we do not need the goverment seeing every place we are, where we go, stores we shop, etc.
But that said, the reasoning this dingbat Transportation head says is that taxing by the mile will mean people who drive more will pay more. So they think that this would be a better way to make it fairer? DUH! How STUPID can this administration be?????????????????????????????????
Where in the heck do they think that per mile tax vs per galleon gas tax will be better? DUH! If I drive more, I will put more gas in my tank and thus use more gas than the person who doesn't drive much.
Two people, one drives 50 miles in a month, the other drives 500 miles in a month> Obama and his unintellitent ignoramuses figure that it's more fair to tax by the mile because the person driving 500 miles will pay more than the person driving 50 miles. Of course the 500 mile a month person will pay more and the Obama doesn't have to invade our privacy by using GPS.
The person who drives 500 miles in a month will already pay more in taxes than the person who drives 50 miles a month because the 500 mile person BUYS more gasoline, i.e., must put more gallons in per month, which translates to, DUH, paying more taxes than tha person who drives only 50 miles a month.....what a novel idea to keep it the way it is and at the same time prevent the goverment from snooping on it's citizens. (well, except for the taxpayers snooping on the cops who claim they are working on OT when actually they are watching their kids bowl or probably cheating on their spouse by spending 4 hours some place).
Oh yeah, and the person who uses less gasoline because of, say, an electric car, pays more in their electric bill because I'm sure plugging your car in at night will jack up your electricity portion of your NiMo bill big time
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Notice, now they're not saying anything about "replacing" Gasoline Tax ...
Quoted Text
WASHINGTON – A House committee chairman said Tuesday that he wants Congress to enact a mileage-based tax on cars and trucks to pay for highway programs now rather than wait years to test the idea.
Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said he believes the technology exists to implement a mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline.
"Why do we need a pilot program? Why don't we just phase it in?" said Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected to total around a half trillion dollars.
A congressionally mandated commission on transportation financing alternatives recommended switching to a vehicle-miles traveled tax, but estimated it would take a decade to put a national system in place.
"I think it can be done in far less than that, maybe two years," Oberstar said at a House hearing. He was responding to testimony by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who recommended that the transportation bill include pilot programs in every state to test the viability of a mileage-based tax.
Blumenauer said public acceptance, not technology, is the main obstacle to a mileage-based tax.
Taxi drivers ride, rally against $1 surcharge Proposed MTA deficit-closer called regressive
Capitol bureau Last updated: 4:20 p.m., Tuesday, April 28, 2009 A sea of yellow taxis arrived in Albany today, as drivers incensed by the proposed $1 taxi tax to bail out the MTA and build bridges and roads upstate are taking their message to state lawmakers.
The caravan of around 40 cabs circled the Capitol and held a press conference on the east lawn, and drivers met with individual Senators and Assembly members.
Drivers say they have been hit hard by the recession, seeing a dropoff in ridership. They say the $1 will reduce ridership even further, lead to lower tips and deny them their own fare increases.
The surcharge, originally proposed by the state Senate Majority last week, is intended to raise $190 million in new revenue. Those funds would be split down the middle, with $95 million in revenue going to the MTA and the same amount going to finance bond issues that would leverage $1.2 billion for roads and bridges in upstate and on Long Island.
The cab drivers argue that the surcharge would be a regressive tax on the working and middle classes already hard hit by MTA fare hikes and the recession in general.
The rally was joined by Bronx Democratic Assemblymen Peter Rivera, who has proposed an alternate measure that would raise funds through a tax on jet fuel, and Jose Rivera, himself a former taxi driver.
"Driving a cab, in my view, is the more stressful job there is," said Jose Rivera.
The motorcade was organized by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and the League of Mutual Taxi Owners, joined in Albany by taxi brokers and owners.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
"Once, Kira and Leo attempted to spend a night in the country. "Certainly," said the landlady. "certainly, citizens, I can let you have a room for the night. But first you must get a certificate from your Upravdom as to where you live in the city, and a permit from your militia department, and then you must bring me you labor books, and I must register them with our Soviet here, and our militia department, and get a permit for you as transient guests, and there's a tax to pay, and then you can have the room." They stayed in the city."
"We the Living"---Ayn Rand
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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