carbonmarine
11-16-2004, 01:54 PM
California Dem's Consider " By-the-Mile Driving Tax "
If you drive a car in California, you could soon find yourself being taxed for it.
That's because the state's Department of Motor Vehicles chief wants to tax drivers for every mile they drive.
Newly appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to head up the DMV, Democrat Joan Borucki has long advocated a tax-by-the-mile scheme.
Schwarzenegger hasn't signed off on the plan, but he appointed Borucki. What does that say?
According to the L.A. Times, her scheme would require each car be fitted with a mileage tracking device that beamed a signal to a GPS satellite. A driver's tax would then be calculated based on total miles driven.
The plan would supplant the state's current means of deriving revenue from drivers the 18-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax.
But the scheme is illustrative of the failure of the liberal-socialist welfare state mentality.
For years, liberal California environmentalists have been pressuring their Democratic allies in state government to tighten automotive emissions and gas mileage standards.
Hence, for years California residents have been penalized for wanting to drive any vehicle larger than a beer can with a motor.
Now that residents have finally responded to all this pressure and penalization by buying high-mileage, cleaner-burning vehicles, the welfare socialists in state government are afraid the current gasoline tax won't be sufficient to maintain the state's roadways.
They can't get the money from other budgetary line items because it's all earmarked for entitlements, such as paying for education, medical care and welfare benefits for the state's vast illegal alien population.
So, the end result is all of those Californians who were pressured into buying and driving tin cans will have done so for naught, as a driving tax generates revenue on miles driven, not gallons of fuel bought.
That means, as one opponent of the plan told the Times, it won't make any difference if a driver is operating a Toyota Prius hybrid or a Hummer.
There are also privacy concerns, say opponents of this scheme. A global tracking system device on your automobile will allow government snoops to monitor you wherever you drive which may be the underlying goal of this entire plan anyway.
The liberal answer to this constitutional privacy concern is to ask, "If you're not doing anything wrong, what are you worried about?"
Never mind the fact that in America, without provocation, the government has no need or right to track you in the first place.
On another note, the air in California's major cities is smoggy and dirty, with no relief in sight, no pun intended. What's next a tax on every breath of air? :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes:
If you drive a car in California, you could soon find yourself being taxed for it.
That's because the state's Department of Motor Vehicles chief wants to tax drivers for every mile they drive.
Newly appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to head up the DMV, Democrat Joan Borucki has long advocated a tax-by-the-mile scheme.
Schwarzenegger hasn't signed off on the plan, but he appointed Borucki. What does that say?
According to the L.A. Times, her scheme would require each car be fitted with a mileage tracking device that beamed a signal to a GPS satellite. A driver's tax would then be calculated based on total miles driven.
The plan would supplant the state's current means of deriving revenue from drivers the 18-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax.
But the scheme is illustrative of the failure of the liberal-socialist welfare state mentality.
For years, liberal California environmentalists have been pressuring their Democratic allies in state government to tighten automotive emissions and gas mileage standards.
Hence, for years California residents have been penalized for wanting to drive any vehicle larger than a beer can with a motor.
Now that residents have finally responded to all this pressure and penalization by buying high-mileage, cleaner-burning vehicles, the welfare socialists in state government are afraid the current gasoline tax won't be sufficient to maintain the state's roadways.
They can't get the money from other budgetary line items because it's all earmarked for entitlements, such as paying for education, medical care and welfare benefits for the state's vast illegal alien population.
So, the end result is all of those Californians who were pressured into buying and driving tin cans will have done so for naught, as a driving tax generates revenue on miles driven, not gallons of fuel bought.
That means, as one opponent of the plan told the Times, it won't make any difference if a driver is operating a Toyota Prius hybrid or a Hummer.
There are also privacy concerns, say opponents of this scheme. A global tracking system device on your automobile will allow government snoops to monitor you wherever you drive which may be the underlying goal of this entire plan anyway.
The liberal answer to this constitutional privacy concern is to ask, "If you're not doing anything wrong, what are you worried about?"
Never mind the fact that in America, without provocation, the government has no need or right to track you in the first place.
On another note, the air in California's major cities is smoggy and dirty, with no relief in sight, no pun intended. What's next a tax on every breath of air? :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: :sqeyes: