What Will We Do When We Can't Afford Gas Anymore?
The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing, a 15-member panel created by Congress, is the second group in a year to call for higher fuel taxes.
In a report expected in late January, members of the infrastructure financing commission say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and the diesel fuel tax by 12 to 15 cents a gallon. At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation.
According to a draft of the financing commission's recommendations, the nation needs to move to a new system that taxes motorists according to how much they use roads.
"Most if not all of the commissioners have a strong belief and commitment that we need a fundamental transformation of the current system," said commission chairman Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a technology policy think tank in Washington.
The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, in a report issued in January 2008, to call for an increase of as much as 40 cents a gallon in the gas tax, phased in over five years.
Charles Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations said Congress may decide to disguise a fuel tax hike as a surcharge to combat climate change.
"Instead of calling it a gas tax, call it a carbon tax," Whittington said. The point is to try to make americans drive less by making them pay more.
The financing commission thinks the long-term solution is a mileage-based revenue system. While details have not been worked out, such a system would mean equipping every car and truck with a device that uses global positioning satellites and transponders to record how many miles the vehicle has been driven, the type of roads and time of day.
Using this kind of technology to track driving would violate drivers' privacy, and you can be assured that such a system would be used to track every americans movements.
The police will not give speeding tickets anymore. If you go over the posted speed limit, the satellite tracking system will report it and automatically take the money from your bank account electronically.
Welcome to the Obamanation!
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