Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Another Brilliant Government Idea
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I think Budweiser should make a real men of genius commercial about the members of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission. They deserve it for coming up with a by-the-mile road tax.
Secondly, the tax would be horribly repressive to those in rural America. Those not living in a metropolitan environment don't have the luxury of not driving like their city brethren. They are going to be paying an inordinately unfair amount of the taxes from this scheme. If the roads are going to be used by everyone then everyone should pay an equal amount to use them.
Third and most importantly, who in the hell in their right mind would allow the federal government to put a GPS system in their car. Especially one that the government has access to? It would essentially provide the government with the ability to track you at all times. Personally I find the concept a bit frightening. Especially if you care anything at all about privacy. Not much privacy when the government can check to see where you drove to last weekend.
The best quote from these real men of genius.
The year is 2020 and the gasoline tax is history. In its place you get a monthly tax bill based on each mile you drove — tracked by a Global Positioning System device in your car and uploaded to a billing center.....This idea is stupid on many many many levels. First off, liberals always tell us how greedy corporations are. Well, it looks like government can be just as greedy if not more so. What? They can't handle the fact that the gasoline tax isn't bringing enough "revenue". They can't take in less money. Heaven forbid. No they have to continue finding new ways to tax the living crap out of people.
Besides the technological advances making such a tax possible, the idea is getting a hard push from a growing number of transportation experts and officials. That is because the traditional by-the-gallon fuel tax, struggling to keep up with road building and maintenance demands, could fall even farther behind as vehicles' gas mileage rises and more alternative-fuel vehicles come on line.
The idea of shifting to a by-the-mile tax has been discussed for years, but it now appears to be getting more serious attention. A federal commission, after a two-year study, concluded earlier this year that the road tax was the "best path forward" to keep revenues flowing to highway and transportation projects, and could be an important new tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion.
Secondly, the tax would be horribly repressive to those in rural America. Those not living in a metropolitan environment don't have the luxury of not driving like their city brethren. They are going to be paying an inordinately unfair amount of the taxes from this scheme. If the roads are going to be used by everyone then everyone should pay an equal amount to use them.
Third and most importantly, who in the hell in their right mind would allow the federal government to put a GPS system in their car. Especially one that the government has access to? It would essentially provide the government with the ability to track you at all times. Personally I find the concept a bit frightening. Especially if you care anything at all about privacy. Not much privacy when the government can check to see where you drove to last weekend.
The best quote from these real men of genius.
"If you're committed to the system being improved then it was a no-brainer," he said.How about no. Why don't we just scrap the system of taxation and come up with a new one. One that doesn't destroy the privacy of all Americans. This is the U.S. and not an Orwellian animal farm .
Posted by at 9:56 PM in Political Issues
