Obama Administration Considers Plan to Tax Cars by the Mile

Which we already do, by the way. It's called the Federal Fuel Excise Tax. And it's currently 18.4 cents/gal (24.4 cents/gal for diesel.)

But wherever there's a will to tax more, there's a way.

Obama's proposal seems to follow up on that idea in section 2218 of the draft bill. That section would create, within the Federal Highway Administration, a Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office. It would be tasked with creating a "study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems."

The hell?

By the way, the states and even some municipalities pile on too. Taxes per gallon average 41.1 cents nationwide (CA sets the bar).

Why would they consider this? (I mean, besides the obvious "hey, it's another tax yippee!). I'm guessing somebody put a pencil to the offsets in revenue from increased CAFE standards and hybrids, and got a little nervous. You could add in concerns about suppressed demand as a result of vastly higher prices.

It doesn't matter really. When it comes to developing new and more creative ways to take your money, Democrats never sleep.

via Instapundit and adamsbaldwin on Twitter.

UPDATE: Slublog has a suggestion:

posted by Dave In Texas at 09:38 AM

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