I usually don't purchase The Boston Herald, so I missed this Howie Carr item on a mileage tax for our autos. Apparently the proposal is for only 0.85¢ a mile—initially. That would be 8.5 mills (₥). Any bets on how long it would take for it to go to a whole cent? That would average about three bucks every time I fill up. How will they know how far I drove? Annual Inspection odometer check? A GPS tracker I have to pay for, and pay to have installed in a tamper-proof manner?
My problem is that (1) it is politicians, afraid of bumping the gas tax or the income tax, looking for some cutesy new way to extract money and (2) it does not provide any incentive to get better gas milage, either through better driving or selective purchasing.
Whatever we do, we have to pay for it, but that payment needs to be up front.
Here is my supplemental question. If I drive to our Nation's Capitol, will I be paying this milage tax as I wander through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and the District itself?
There will be an election in November, if anyone cares. Now would be a good time to send cards and letters (and EMails) to our elected representatives down on Beacon Hill. They may be listening.
Hat tip to the Instapundit.
Regards — Cliff
1 comment:
A tax by any other name is a tax. Even the slowest minded Americans can see a government that confiscates more and more of what money they erroneously consider to be theirs.
And taxation with representation is merely a "feel good" premise. We have a long and sordid history of "sending Mr. Smith to Washington" in order to "represent" us, only to find that he no longer remembers the place from which he came....only the place TO which he arrived.....and....he likes the new place. The backers of Senator Lugar took many years to discover that their "home boy" no longer considered their state HIS home. And with that, taxation in no longer representative. It is simply...profoundly.....brutally....confiscatory....extracted to fuel the lavish lives of "the people's representative" and to feed the insatiable narcissism that underlies the vast majority of political people.
MA seems to be leading American society in the "evolution" of this model...but the other states are desperately racing to catch up.
And in this instance, a new and distinct "tribe" emerges that contrasts with the American public.....the Elected Tribe...and there really isn't much difference between its component villages....Democratic, Republican, liberal, conservative.......the only true delta being the approach employed to extract tribute from the masses.
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