Recently there was a post about a congressman who wanted to raise gas taxes, then abolish them and implement a miles driven tax, to this man I say lift your head out of the trough and look around then think about what you are saying. If you are unable to think let me do that for you, but the odds of you seeing this are slim at best, that is unless you have friends in the NSA.
This and no nation on earth can tax itself out of debt, the same as no family can spend itself out of poverty. What we have here is another government agency, this time the DOT that has run out of money and the account will be empty by the end of summer. I can not understand why the welfare programs never run out of money. The roads, highways, byways and bridges are used by every American at sometime or another even if just to get to a store to support the local economy. More importantly the avenues of travel provide the working Americans a way to get to work, so they can pay the taxes that support your welfare programs. I might as well clear this up for you now, Welfare is supposed to be a helping hand during times of hardship, it was never meant to be a lifestyle or a career. I may as well clear this up for you while I am at it, social welfare programs are not an entitlement, with the exception of true disability social security is an old age and survivor benefit program or at least that was the intention.
I never received a formal education beyond High School so I never studied economics, but I learned economics the hard way having more month than money. If you have more month than money you need to make some changes and prioritize your spending covering the needs, saving a little to cover emergencies and to hell with the wants if there is not enough to cover them. This is called having a budget, try making one and sticking to it. But you will not do that, since you landed your ass in congress you have done as all the rest have done, you stuck your face in the trough and began feeding on the sweat and labors of others and spend money like there is no end to it. The voters elected you to do the people’s business, if the business of the people was to mooch off the labors of others and spend money wildly you must be a splendid congressman.
Maybe this slipped past you there are still many Americans who are willing to work but your social programs have done nothing to spur job growth. If these people had jobs they would be going to work buying fuel for their vehicles and paying into the DOT coffers. So if you and your ilk truly want things to improve focus on the economy and loosen the stranglehold and let the capitalist system take off. More jobs equals more cars on the road which replenish the DOT. More taxes will equal fewer cars on the road which will equal less money for DOT.
Now back to your idea of a mileage tax. The goods people buy in the stores of America must first get to the stores, most come by truck from distribution centers. The distribution centers may or may not be near a rail hub either way they will a some point be moved by truck. The mileage tax paid by the trucking company will be passed on to the consumer in higher prices, then the consumer will be assessed a mileage tax just to get to the store to purchase the goods. Just think of the cash you will have coming in, or maybe not. The producers will only drive as much as necessary and your cash cow will start thinning down. To prove that you did not think any of this through before opening your mouth, what about people who fill gas cans to run generators during power outages, generators go zero miles so they will be gas tax-free, as a matter of fact a person could walk to the gas station to fill a gas can how would that be taxed again it used the roads zero miles to get to the gas station. Maybe you and your ilk should focus on getting more vehicles on the road by spurring the economy and job growth.
And finally think on this, I work now because I want to not because I have to and there are many like me. I have multiple vehicles because I want to and they all burn fossil fuels and each one uses the roads and must be refueled and you get highway taxes from me. As I pointed out I work because I want to, but how many people have a job because I support the local economy. They must get to work somehow most get there by private transportation and they to pay gas taxes. If the mileage tax is ever implemented my vehicles will be refueled before implementation, remain idle, placed on blocks so as not to flat spot the tires and started occasionally to keep things lubed. While they remain idle there will be no need to renew the tags so the county coffers will lose money. There will be no need for insurance as they will not be driven the insurance company will lose money. There will be not need to repair or perform routine maintenance so I will need no parts or pieces especially those expensive tires, and the automotive repair industry will lose money. And lastly since I will not be driving everyday doing my part to spur the local economy so the person who has a job because I have one will no longer be needed and then his vehicle will sit idle and the process repeats itself and there may just be a person who has a job because that person had one and again it all repeats. The economy will only sink farther into the toilet. The trough you feed from may have less in it because you took the wrong approach to keep it full. So genius you need to think on just how much one part of economics relies on another.. When I must go to resupply on the things I can not get from the land I will simply ride a “grass burner”.
The taxation on mileage will not lower the price of gas the price will remain the same as the fuel delivery companies will pass their operating costs on to the consumers. Paying the same amount for gas just to get to a job to pay taxes on my income and then paying a separate tax just to get there is not going to happen. I will simply leave my job and live off of what I have, making adjustments as necessary, you know the budget thing. I am taxed enough already. This is called checking out and off the financial grid, I know some that have already done this and will wait for better times and a more sensible government before checking back in.
So genius I close with this raising taxes or implementing new taxes is not the answer, getting America back to work will solve most of the problems. Another thing that would help to lessen the burden on the producers of America would be if you and your ilk could do a little some thing about securing the southern border, we already had enough people out of work and hungry. Oh before I forget quit saying its a humanitarian effort for the kids, you are from the side that is okay with abortion and don’t give a damn about kids.
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