The Washington Post’s support of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s idea to tax “vehicle miles” traveled is inane. The article, “Mr. LaHood’s Good Idea,” dated 23 February, 2009, purports that a mileage tax would be more fair and reap more tax dollars than an increase in the federal gasoline tax.
I look at it this way: those individuals who commute further for work each day are probably not doing it because they want to. They are also probably driving more fuel efficient vehicles, because they have to. So they are taking jobs where they can, that they need to support their families and keep them in a home.
Those individuals who are driving gas hogs either don’t commute that far or can afford to keep filling them up. Which person in these two scenarios is trying to conserve fuel and save money. Which one doesn’t care about conserving fuel and saving money? Which one should be taxed at a higher rate? Do the math and “fig”ure it out, Newton.
Where is the evidence that the gas tax — which, we note here for the umpteenth time, should be raised — will be less effective in capturing revenue? The gas tax, just like income and sales taxes indexed to target the wealthy, should target those individuals who have the disposable income to waste it, gas that is.
Why should a family struggling to make ends meet that finds a job 40 miles one way from their home have to pay higher taxes than a Hummer driver who can afford to live 10 miles away from their employer?
Of course figuring out how to record, track, and assess all those miles would be insane in the membrane. The IRS is screwed already. Discussion of GPS’s and recording devices at gas stations comes up. That’s going to work… Who is going to take on this new function? Seems like the gas tax is the way to go. We don’t even need to skew it to the gas hogs. They get hit just because the need more gas!
I am losing my faith in the Washington Post on this one. I think that we should tax on consumption but the tax should not be biased toward miles accumulated but toward miles per gallon. There is a lot of gray area out there. Is it more efficient to fly than to drive, should we take the slow boat to China, etc.
The bottom line for me is fuel efficiency. The owners of the vehicles with the worst fuel efficiency should pay the most for their fuel. Similarly, those individuals whose homes are the least fuel efficient should pay the most for their fuel. The only way to fairly apply that principle is via fuel taxes.