Jez
25-09-2007, 01:43 AM
By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY
Beginning early next year, drivers in six states will begin testing a new way to pay for roads and transit: Commuters will be charged for the miles they drive rather than paying taxes on gasoline purchased.
Click Here for full article (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-20-roads_N.htm)
My mouth is still open in disbelief. Under the proposed system, the person driving a Hummer will pay the same tax as someone who has gone out of their way to buy a car as fuel efficient as possible, and the same tax as someone making their own recycled bio-diesel.
And in the end, any 'extra revenue' will probably be swallowed by 'studies' like this and enforcing/monitoring the system...all up, a grand use of taxpayer funds to endorse blatant resource wastage isn't it?
It's a bit like the governments all over the world spending money on advertising campaigns against drink driving and paying all the associated social costs...rather than simply mandating a breathalyser ignition on all new cars and retrofitting the rest...blow over the legal alcohol limit, your car won't start. No more drink driving 'problem' at all, comparitively little of our money spent.
Why is it that the only shred of creativity the vast majority of politicians show is when they're being cunning, greedy, wantonly stupid, downright evil, or all four at once?
That was of course, a rhetorical question...
Apologies in advance for the rant and for getting off topic...I don't know what made me crankier...the concept of a 'mileage fee', or the fact that 91% of those surveyed thought it was a great idea!
Beginning early next year, drivers in six states will begin testing a new way to pay for roads and transit: Commuters will be charged for the miles they drive rather than paying taxes on gasoline purchased.
Click Here for full article (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-20-roads_N.htm)
My mouth is still open in disbelief. Under the proposed system, the person driving a Hummer will pay the same tax as someone who has gone out of their way to buy a car as fuel efficient as possible, and the same tax as someone making their own recycled bio-diesel.
And in the end, any 'extra revenue' will probably be swallowed by 'studies' like this and enforcing/monitoring the system...all up, a grand use of taxpayer funds to endorse blatant resource wastage isn't it?
It's a bit like the governments all over the world spending money on advertising campaigns against drink driving and paying all the associated social costs...rather than simply mandating a breathalyser ignition on all new cars and retrofitting the rest...blow over the legal alcohol limit, your car won't start. No more drink driving 'problem' at all, comparitively little of our money spent.
Why is it that the only shred of creativity the vast majority of politicians show is when they're being cunning, greedy, wantonly stupid, downright evil, or all four at once?
That was of course, a rhetorical question...
Apologies in advance for the rant and for getting off topic...I don't know what made me crankier...the concept of a 'mileage fee', or the fact that 91% of those surveyed thought it was a great idea!