(PJMedia) The Biden administration is casting about for ways to fund its gargantuan $3 trillion infrastructure program and have come back to an idea that first appeared in the 1990s.
If we’re going to fix the roads, why not force those who drive the most to pay the most? A mileage tax is on the front burner and is included with a of a host of ideas that would fund the bill.
It’s the “user pays” principle of government spending, which, in theory, has a lot of pluses. But what has stopped the idea from becoming reality before is the problem of how you go about figuring it and collecting it.
Several states have toyed with the idea of installing devices to track the mileage of individual autos.
As expected, the notion of the government hooking up a device to keep track of how far you drive did not go over well with citizens. Many of us wonder what else could be placed in the device to keep track of us.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNBC that the mileage tax is only one revenue-raising idea the administration is considering.
“I’m hearing a lot of appetite to make sure that there are sustainable funding streams,” the Transportation secretary said. A mileage tax “shows a lot of promise if we believe in that so-called user-pays principle: The idea that part of how we pay for roads is you pay based on how much you drive.”
The Transportation secretary’s comments came as President Joe Biden prepares to detail during a trip to Pittsburgh next week sweeping infrastructure proposals that could cost $3 trillion to $4 trillion.
