U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday President Biden is weighing a “mileage tax” on drivers as a way to help pay for his forthcoming infrastructure plan that could cost upwards of $3 trillion.
“I think that shows a lot of promise,” Mr. Buttigieg said of a mileage-based tax on CNBC.
“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 gas tax used to be the obvious way to do it,” he continued. “It’s not anymore, so a so-called vehicle-miles-traveled tax or mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be a way to do it.”
Mr. Buttigieg said the gas tax is becoming outdated as the country seeks to pivot toward electric vehicles to combat climate change.
Mr. Biden is expected to unveil a $3 trillion package of investments on infrastructure and domestic programs next week, stating during his first press conference Thursday the plan will create a significant number of “really good-paying jobs.”
Mr. Buttigieg avoided specifics on how the plan would be paid for during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on Thursday, saying Congress would have to “arrive at a healthy balance of how this can be at least partially paid for,” The Associated Press reported.
The secretary said during his CNBC appearance that many options are being considered to fund the project, including the possible revival of Build America Bonds and creating a “national infrastructure bank.”
Read more at Washington Times
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street . If you choose to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold, I’ll tax your heat. If you choose to walk, I’ll tax your feet.
George Harrison, (Orwell?)
I was thinking about that same song when reading the article.
How does one deal with ranchers who drive their trucks on their own dirt roads on their ranch? We are already paying taxes every time we fill up our cars. But I’d be for some way to make those wealthy enough to buy an electric car to be taxed by how much they drive.
Butter Legs just like with all of Biden the Stupid his entire cabinet is a whole list of Globalists and Socialists Scoundels
Little prick is drunk on power.
Biden the Stupid surrounds himself with like minded people
The more types of taxes we have, the more money we can extract from the people. This is why Democrats will love the idea of a mileage tax. You can bet if passed it will be a tax that goes up every year.
In Washington State that has no income tax Democrats are always using the argument that such as tax would be fairer. Yet, the idea of fairness is missing from the mileage tax. Rural Americans such as myself have to drive further for basic necessities such groceries, medical care, and work. No public transportation is available. Yet the larger tax we would have to pay would only benefit infrastructure projects for urban areas.
Liberals think nothing of breaking the law to further their objectives, such as election fraud. Yet, they assume everyone will be obedient in following their mandates. No matter how it was implemented, there would be massive fraud. If the tax was based on odometers, many car owners would have them disabled for part of the year. If the tax was based GPS trackers required to be in everyone’s car, the signals would be blocked part of the time. It was based on cameras along the roads, people would drive to avoid them putting on more miles and more emissions.