Drive-By Taxing Schemes
The bigger government is better government brigade in Minnesota is taking to heart the notion of taxing anything that moves. The state’s department of transportation is recruiting volunteers to test technology that could be used to impose and collect a vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) tax:
“This research will provide important feedback from motorists about the effectiveness of using technology in a car or truck to gather mileage information,” said Cory Johnson, project manager.
“We are researching alternative financing methods today that could be used 10 or 20 years from now when the number of fuel efficient and hybrid cars increase and no longer produce enough revenue from a gas tax to build and repair roads.”
Recruiting for the Minnesota Road Fee Test will begin in May, with research starting in July. Volunteers must be from Hennepin or Wright County. Drivers will be given smart phones with a GPS application that has been programmed to allow them to submit information. Volunteers will get a small stipend for expenses associated with the test.
It’d be nice to be able and write this off to brain cells being killed by the extreme cold in Minnesota; unfortunately, proposals for VMT taxes bloom in all climates. Like in North Carolina, where only a few years back the vaunted 21st Century Transportation Committee was pitching a VMT tax that would charge drivers between one-quarter and one-half cent per mile. Estimated revenues were pegged between $165 and $330 million per year, making it a prime candidate to be dusted off for a fresh look by any diehard tax-and-spend politician.
VMT tax talk, in fact, is already being revived at the federal level. Last month Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) took pains to highlight a CBO report that tags VMT taxing as a “practical option” for raising revenue. This from The Hill:
The report discussed the proposal in great detail, including the development of technology that would allow total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to be tracked, reported and taxed, as well as the pros and cons of mandating the installation of this technology in all vehicles.
“In the past, the efficiency costs of implementing a system of VMT charges — particularly the costs of users’ time for slowing and queuing at tollbooths — would clearly have outweighed the potential benefits from more efficient use of highway capacity,” CBO wrote. “Now, electronic metering and billing are making per-mile charges a practical option.”
…
Conrad said in response that federal funds are tight, and in asking for recommendations on how to raise that money, he noted the possibility of a VMT tax as a way to solve the problem of collecting less in taxes as people move to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Here’s a whacky idea: how about government focus on spending less money instead of concocting new ways to collect more. And who’s a big enough sucker to lay odds that a VMT tax – federal, state, or local – would end up supplanting instead of supplementing an existing one?
Revenue streams aside, doesn’t the notion of having a government bureaucrat track every mile you drive sound just positively delightful. No worries about abuse there:
VMT Monitoring Agent: “I see here, Mr. Pellin, that last week you made 48 trips to the Jumbo Java Brew Hut, totaling 188.46 miles.”
Me: “Er…”
VMT Agent: “You realize, sir, the detrimental effects caffeine can have on the body’s metabolic system.”
Me: “”Um…”
VMT Agent: “I surmise from your frequent trips to Toys Town that you have children. Do you drink coffee in front of your children, Mr. Pellin? Do you let them drink coffee?”
Me: “How is that any of your busi-”
VMT Agent (scanning a spreadsheet): “Were your children with you on these four trips last week to Barney’s Big Burger Barn? Are you feeding your children fast food, Mr. Pellin? How many times a week?”
Me: “How did you -”
VMT Agent: “You disgust me, sir. And you owe us $78.24 for overage mileage from last month.”
No worries. What. So. Ever.
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