Congressman Wants to Tax Every Mile You Drive

Do you know how much the government gets in taxes per gallon of gas you pump into your car?  According to CNN, the federal government takes eighteen cents and the states average about twenty-two.  Forty cents of every gallon of gasoline is taxes.

(By the way, here’s a great site to find out what your state tax is on gasoline.)

CNN says later in the article that the oil producers make the most money off a gallon of gas.  While that might be true at the pump, they don’t get to keep that money.  They pay taxes just like the rest of us.  In fact, they get hammered.

In 2008, Exxon caused several thousand heads across America to explode when they announced record first quarter profits of $10.9 billion.  Now consider that in that same quarter, they paid $9.3 billion in taxes.

They paid almost half of what they made in taxes.  Think about that next time you hear a Democrat vilify the oil companies and demand higher taxes.

The fact is that Exxon only makes about seven cents in actual profit, far less than the government, and they pump the oil.

Not content with what they are already looting from us, Democrat Congressman James Oberstar now wants to tax every mile you drive.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said he believes the technology exists to implement a mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline.

“Why do we need a pilot program? Why don’t we just phase it in?” said Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected to total around a half trillion dollars.

Two things jump out at me in that quote.

First, the technology needed to implement it would have to be part of your car. They aren’t going to trust you to turn in your mileage. They want to know the exact numbers. This would be done by mandating a “black box” for your car.  It’s been discussed before, and with this tax, you can bet it will be mandatory.  Cato’s Jim Harper writes:

There are obvious safety benefits if auto accidents can be dissected in detail, of course. Auto manufacturers, safety groups, and insurers want this information. Police departments want it too.

Already, prosecutors are using information from automobile Black Boxes as evidence against drivers. Last year, one Robert Christmann was convicted in a New York traffic fatality based upon information downloaded from his car’s Black Box.

But car manufacturers aren’t touting the safety benefits of the Black Box like they do so many other improvements on the modern automobile. That is because the Black Box is not a safety feature; it is a surveillance tool — and when drivers learn about it, they are none too happy.

After I commented on Black Boxes in a news story earlier this year, letters poured into my e-mail box. “This is `over the top,’ and a definite infringement on my privacy,” said one outraged car owner. Another wrote, “[T]his is a personal vehicle, I’ve paid for it, paid my taxes, enough said.” From another, simply: “Not on my car.”

Many correspondents wanted to know which cars have Black Boxes so they can determine whether their personal vehicles were, in effect, spying on them.

It would create more bureaucracy in Washington, because they’d need an Office of Mileage Taxation, both on the state and federal level.

Second is the decline in gasoline tax revenues. Gasoline taxes are going down because people are driving less and the cars are more fuel efficient. In May 2008, Americans drove 9.6 billion miles less than in 2007. Plus, the cars are more fuel efficient so less gasoline is needed.

Isn’t that two things Democrats have been promoting for years? Now that it’s happening, they find themselves in a pinch.

The fuel taxes will not be repealed. If they find a way to institute a mileage tax, it will be in addition to, not in the place of, the money you pay at the pump. Because of that, it would increase the price of transporting anything in this country by truck, therefore increasing the consumer’s price of anything transported.

Perhaps the solution lies not in increasing the amount looted from the people, but in increasing the efficiency of road maintenance.  For example, when a tanker fire brought down an interchange near the Bay Bridge in the San Francisco Bay area, it was expected to take months to repair.  However, The Governator offered a $5 million bonus to the company that could get it repaired the fastest.

It was fixed in 26 days, more than a month before the deadline set by the state. 

If this can be done in California, it can be done anywhere.  The answer isn’t more taxation, but more free market.

Photo Credit:  Nelson D.