Fox News reports:
President Obama’s transportation department slapped down a suggestion by its own secretary Friday that the government tax motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn.
Secretary Ray LaHood floated the idea in an interview with The Associated Press. . .
Asked about the claim, transportation department spokeswoman Lori Irving immediately shot it down.
“The policy of taxing motorists based on how many miles they have traveled is not and will not be Obama administration policy,” she said. . .
A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it’s an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens.
This part is amusing, by the way:
Among the reasons for the gap [between tax revenues and highway maintenance costs] is a switch to more fuel-efficient cars and a decrease in driving that many transportation experts believe is related to the economic downturn. Electric cars and alternative-fuel vehicles that don’t use gasoline are expected to start penetrating the market in greater numbers.
The idea that gas taxes encourage conservation is supposedly one of the main justifications for gas taxes. Was it never expected to work?
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