Should Driving be Taxed?

EV's are also in their sites for this exact reason.

And yet EV's are subsidized.

Most EV's are purchased by households with above average incomes, so it's another example of subsidizing 'the rich'. Certainly true in the case of Tesla cars.

It's all an insane hodge-podge of city taxes, county taxes, regional taxes, state taxes, federal taxes, income taxes, tax write-offs, subsidies at various levels of government, carbon credits, regulations...

It's no wonder companies have such labor costs just doing government compliance, and why so many companies are moving to states like Texas.

I think that there is only one way to remove all taxes. All government projects and government employees do not get billed for anything. Think about it. How do you pay off somebody with no expenses.

That's a nice car you have there. Give it to me.

I do think that when the politicians make promises they should be honest and specify what the cost to the taxpayer will be, the same way any reputable business would. Right now it's like the shady operators who pave your driveway without your permission and then send a bill, or borrow the money and send the bill to your descendants. Too many people think it's free if it comes from the government.

They don't have a very good track record about being honest and specifying the true costs. From being sold as a supposable the most transparent administration.

One would be pretty foolish to believe that again.

I know that despite my age, I am naive about many things. Many have said that my views in politics and of politicians are nothing but naive fantasies.

I do believe when a politician states the cost of any program it is a valid claim of what somebody expects it will cost. I do expect the cost estimate uttered by that politician was chosen to put the politician in the best light possible. I am not so naive to think that this is like a bill for a completed driveway. At best this is the proposed price before construction begins on the driveway.

Government is not a reputable business. It never has been and it never will be. Comparing government to any reputable business venture is a delusional fantasy that will lead to disaster. Many businesses collapse from bankruptcy all the time with only a few people impacted. If that business niche is still viable, a new business will appear to fill the void. When a government collapses, chaos often follows.

You are correct that far too many people think what government provides is a free service. It is not a free service. Many people have paid far more than just fees and taxes. Every day I'm growing more and more disgusted with those who claim their taxes are too high while they simultaneously don't understand anything about the tasks handled by government nor the tasks' costs.

To quote Walt Kelley in his political cartoon Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

True, but one has to also look at how they arrived at that costs. If it's legitimate, yet the costs increase, (which it normally does) that is acceptable, if it is legitimate.

But it also comes a time not to assume and differentiate its legitimacy or just an agenda. By being able to view it, analyze it and challenge it, separates us from common livestock.

Congress tells me it paves my driveway every year and sends me the bill, due April 15th.

This is how they pave our driveways:

The Humiliating Fundraising Existence of a Member of Congress - The

Term limits will solve that.

along with a reduced benefits package.

We'll never see either in our lifetimes. Our children won't either.

Only because the change has to come from the inside, by elected officials.

First, we the voters, have to throw off the blinders of voting straight tickets and voting for snake oil salesmen and reality show hosts and vote for candidates who ...............................................never mind. I just realized that this sounds so ridiculous. And hopeless.

I agree about the blinders. But there are a few that are running, that the old guard thought was a joke a year ago, and now are scared.

As long as this is a pipe dream,.... yeah, that too.

What about relatives? You can't legislate morality....That's why we have 3 branches of government, checks and balances....

As long as one branch doesn't make a power run, by passing a law, declaring its a penalty, implementing it and only to have the Supreme Court later declaring it a tax.

Sights.

They would tax the air you breathe if they could figure out how to measure it.

Monty Python skit: everybody walking around with bags over their heads, getting their air measured. And then methane output on the other end.

Don't give them ideas. They do have pre-employment respiratory capacity tests, and can outlaw smoking at any time, so that capacity remains essentially a constant of the employee over time.

They (whoever the they is) could institute such a tax at any time with essentially nothing to stop them. Payment of the tax in lead could become an option.

You are being taxed... It's called a Gas tax. Except for electric vehicles.

Don't get fooled with a new name, a tax by any other name is still a tax.

No reason why they couldn't tax charging the same way they tax gasoline, assuming they're not giving power away for free to subsidize EVs. It's less intrusive than requiring people to report mileage, and most likely less susceptible to fraud.

I would be interested to see if taxing mileage will remove the gasoline tax. I highly doubt that will happen.

Once a tax is initiated, rarely is it appealed.

Some good quotes from Ronald Reagan about taxes;

Number 4 applies to above post;

1. "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

2. "We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."

3. "Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15."

4. "No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!"

5. "Simple fairness dictates that government must not raise taxes on families struggling to pay their bills."

6. "Government does not tax to get the money it needs; government always finds a need for the money it gets."

7. "You can't be for big government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy."

8. "The American people are not undertaxed, the government in Washington is overfed."

9. "Whenever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off."

Too bad they couldn't clone him. We could use some leadership right about now.

Easy... That may upset a few members here.

It is interesting of listening to politicians of yesterday (old news reels) and compare them to politicians of today, you don't know what party today's politicians they belong to.

Except the new third party called hypocrisy.

And then there is the 19 trillion dollar elephant in the room, and any messengers that bring it up are quickly shot, or shot down. That's $160,000 per taxpayer, and frankly, not in my budget.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

We can't keep making promises we can't afford.

My 2 cents...

Careful what you wish for:

"Reagan's fans give him credit for restoring the nation's prosperity. But whatever economic growth occurred during the Reagan years only benefited those already well off.

The income gap between the rich and everyone else in America widened. Wages for the average worker declined and the nation's homeownership rate fell.

During Reagan's two terms in the White House, which were boom times for the rich, the poverty rate in cities grew."

Bush 43 all over again.

And then we had the windfall in the Clinton years with all the military cuts.

That was I mplement under Reagan to build up the military which was decimated from the 70's.

During Bush's presidency, he and Congress agreed to a sharp drop in military personnel. Active-duty military declined from 2.2-million to 1.8-million. Total defense forces also shrank, from 3.3-million to 2.9-million.

Defenses forces dropped, and what was allocated for spending in previous budgets was canceled,... Windfall.

Environmental taxes pay the taxes for EV. Power plants have to recoup expenses somewhere.

How about we reduce the number of supervisory personnel and hire more construction and design personnel?

There's no safety officer, union steward, jack hammer operator, teamster, electrician or electrician's helper.

Or political officer.

There's a jackhammer in the lower left corner, so the operator must be on his break.

The other guys you mention are probably on break with the jackhammer operator - "roach coach" is not shown in the picture.

When I worked on a farm there was none of this. I often worked alone, far away from everyone else. You became very safety conscious because they might not miss you unless you didn't come back at the end of the day.

I think the best highways should be toll roads, that way those that can afford the tolls can pay the brunt of the taxes and those that object can make the decision to use alternate free routes....Toll roads should have higher speed limits and roving auto service trucks for emergency repairs and free towing....Pay per mile is a further burden on service companies, that will just be passed on to the consumer anyway...

This idea has been floating around the UK for a few years. Here the suggestion is to replace our "Road Tax" (equivalent to your License Tag) with a Mileage Charge. (note Tag and Charge rates can be increased while politicians can still technically claim no "Tax" increases) For the average road user there would be no financial change. High mileage users are penalized and low mileage users benefit. There are no proposals to reduce petrol tax so those driving gas guzzlers get hit twice. Since I retired I am driving about ¼ the mileage I drove while working so I in theory would benefit. But most high mileage drivers in the UK are driving for business use and any extra tax they pay will get passed on in higher prices. The politicians can claim they are benefiting the environment by reducing road usage and emissions at no cost. A side benefit for government is the extra sales tax they reap on the passed on prices. Hidden tax increases that the voters don't see is a big thing over here. One problem I foresee (and that Governor Brown has not foreseen, but then he is a politician) is that the amount of tax that will be collected is not predictable. In a recession the amount of mileage driven drops dramatically but the number of cars on the road does not change much (the average age of the cars just increases) so the Road Tax portion of the tax take is recession proof just when government needs the money most but the Mileage Charge portion would be vulnerable. Changes to how we work, video conferencing, working from home a couple of days per week, will make future tax take very hard to predict. Country dwellers get hit more than town dwellers and as our present Conservative government gets most of it's voters from the more affluent rural regions and those who commute longer distances these proposals are going nowhere in the UK..........yet.

The other benefit mooted for a mileage charge, generally suggested as a tax on fuel, is that overseas visitors will also contribute thus tapping in to a new revenue source.

And when all cars are connected to the internet, your car will automatically report your mileage and funds will be seamlessly removed from your bank account...

As well as any infraction, you will immediately be judged and funds will be removed from your account to pay for your fines...

Of course you can appeal.

Considering the amount of electronics on all new cars, and availability of GPS and "On Star" type systems on many more, I wouldn't doubt if they already ARE connected to the internet.

They are, and they can be hacked.

Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway-With Me in It | WIRED

I thought Jeeps didn't have that electronic junk. But then that was the Patriot Sport and not the Cherokee.

We already have this, fuel/gas taxes it is called (and or course they go up on a regular basis). If only those taxes were used for their originally intended purposes, maintenance of the required infrastructure. This would be just another tax grab, common to almost every government in the world, an excuse to pull in more revenue to make up for the inefficient, over bloated, civil service departments. After all, every time something is added by government, they need more people to monitor/regulate it. No such thing as moving any people around, just hire more.