CBO says taxing cars by the mile could raise money for highways

By Bob L.
5/17/2011

This law would be nice if it was for People who move away from where they work, but it would not be fair for people whose work is driving, or how about people who drive 20 miles a week if they are lucky just to go to the store, not 50 to 80 miles a day one way just to go to an office job or a warehouse house job.

You have people who can’t help the miles they drive because their job moves from time to time, and some time to another state, they say use mass transit, or carpool, I don’t know where their heads are at, but we do know that they sit on them every day, and they do blow a lot of gas every time they open their, well you get the idea when they stand  up to clear their throat. Not all can car pool, or use mass transit.

If they go ahead and pass a law like this then the only ones that would be exempt from this mileage tax is Police and Fire and no one else, PERIOD, that means no one else will get any discounts that goes for State or Federal Governments, Pass a law, you all pay.

Related articles

• Obama floats plan to tax cars by the mile (uncommonsensecal.wordpress.com)
• Obama Wants to Tax Us by the Mile (papundits.wordpress.com)
• CBO: Budget Bill Actually Increases Spending (blogs.wsj.com)
• Obama Floats Plan to Tax Cars by the Mile (destructionist.wordpress.com)
• CBO confirms spending ‘cut’ deal actually increased spending (dailykos.com)
• Obama Administration: Hey, How About Taxing Drivers Based on How Many Miles They Drive? (michellemalkin.com)

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The Hill

By Pete Kasperowicz
05/17/11

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Tuesday said the imposition of a new tax on cars and trucks based on how many miles they drive would be one way of generating revenues for the federal Highway Trust Fund.

Joseph Kile, CBO’s assistant director for microeconomic studies, told the Senate Finance Committee that a tax on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) would help the Highway Trust Fund meet its spending goals, in particular because the Fund is already spending more than it collects through the federal gas tax.

But he also said the tax would better align highway costs with revenue generation, and promote the more efficient use of the highway system.
 “Although taxes currently are charged for fuel, most of the cost of using a highway, especially the cost of pavement damage and congestion, are tied more closely to the number of miles traveled than to the amount of fuel consumed,” Kile told senators.

“Charging users based on the cost they impose would require a combination of fuel taxes and per-mile charges, sometimes called VMT taxes,” he added. “Imposing such prices would encourage motorists to use the highways only when the benefits to them outweigh the costs, and a system like that would also reduce highway use and thus future spending.”

Kile added in his prepared remarks before the committee that revenues could also be generated in ways not related to driving. However, he seemed to downplay that idea because this would “not promote efficient use of highways.”