AMAC Exclusive
In recent days, the White House and Congressional Democrats have signaled that despite the ongoing catastrophe in Afghanistan, their top priority remains their radical domestic legislative agenda. This means that unfortunately, Afghanistan isn’t the only Democrat disaster Americans have to worry about this week. On Monday, the House of Representatives will return to vote on both a $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill and a $3.5 trillion budget bill—a $4.7 trillion package to transform America as we know it.
Even the $1.2 trillion bill, which has been dubiously dubbed “bipartisan,” would amount to a calamity in its own right thanks to numerous provisions in the 2,700 page bill that undermine any positive investments in traditional infrastructure. Chief among these is a pilot program for a vehicle mileage tax that, if enacted, would take more money out of Americans’ pockets and give the federal government more control over their daily lives.
So, what is a vehicle mileage tax? Quite simply, it is a tax on motorists for every single mile they drive.
According to the bill, these pilot programs have two purposes: (1) “to test the feasibility of a road usage fee,” and (2) “to conduct public education and outreach to increase public awareness regarding the need for user-based alternative revenue mechanisms for surface transportation programs.”
In other words, Democrats want to fund future infrastructure projects by tracking the location of every vehicle in America indefinitely. As the bill says, “the objectives of the pilot program are to test the design, acceptance, implementation, and financial sustainability of a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee, to address the need for additional revenue for surface transportation infrastructure and a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee.” After the program is completed, the Treasury and Transportation Secretaries will need to report the results to Congress so that lawmakers can assess whether or not to levy a national mileage tax. If given the opportunity, there is little doubt that a Democratic Congress would pass such a tax.
While it’s only a pilot program at this point, it is essentially a trial run for future expansion—and Republican critics have raised concerns that the effect will be an increase in government control over every American’s life. The pilot programs will recruit volunteers from all 50 states for both passenger and commercial vehicles, all of which will have their mileage tracked by GPS apps. Imagine that being applied to all Americans—everyone tracked all the time by the government, for the purpose of taxing every movement you make.
As Milton Friedman once quipped, “There’s nothing as permanent as a temporary government program,” or tax. Once legislators get their hands on a new means for taking money from Americans, they hardly ever let go. Moreover, it’s not realistic to assume a mileage tax would replace the current gasoline tax, but rather be added on to it.
A mileage tax would also allow the Left to continue implementing their socialist, redistributive agenda on a massive and unprecedented scale. Perhaps the closest parallel is the Democrats attempt to pass a national energy tax in 2009 (the bill passed the House). The law would have established a national cap-and-trade system that would allow the government to monitor and control anything and everything that emitted carbon. The excuse was to save the world from climate change. The caps on emissions were set to get tighter and tighter with each passing year, with the goal being a 17% reduction of carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2020. Even without this massive government takeover, emissions went down by 15% by 2019. But the takeover would have empowered the Left to bestow and carve out all sorts of favors and exemptions for their cronies in the name of saving the planet.
A mileage tax would no doubt result in a similar sort of legalized corruption. If the federal government can tax every single American based on how they use their vehicle every day, such a tax could be easily exploited to the advantage of their favored constituencies.
This would have a particularly damaging effect on Americans living in the suburbs, which as many conservative outlets have reported, Democrats are no fans of. A mileage tax would necessarily be much more expensive for those who live in suburbs or rural areas who need to commute by car for work. It would also empower the left to build out mass transit systems on the backs of commuters, which as Stanley Kurtz, Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has warned, would “force urbanites into suburbs, and suburbanites back into cities…then presto! You have effectively abolished the suburbs.”
Perhaps most alarming of all, the implications of a national mileage tax are ominous for individual liberty. In order for the government to actually enforce such a tax, they must necessarily have some means of tracking the mileage of every single American in this country. How could such a thing be accomplished without a massive system of GPS surveillance that would keep tabs on the location of virtually every American at all times? This is to say nothing of the fact that vehicles would necessarily become more expensive, as Americans would have to purchase their own trackers, or car manufacturers would need to include them in all new cars.
A mileage tax would not only be a financial boon for socialist dreams of selective redistribution, but it would also extend the grasping fingers of Big Brother into the lives of every American. With a foreign policy calamity and a litany of domestic crises already facing the country thanks to Democratic leadership, Congress may want to think twice before it tries to pile one more big tax on the backs of American families.
Sure, redistribution of wealth is a great thing! Let’s start with the politicians pockets. Another thing to consider. They are Democrats, They are NOT democratic. Stop referring to them as such please.
Let’s cut to the chase. These “democrat” socialist/marxists are very evil people and have an agenda for destroying America. If WE THE PEOPLE let that happen, we are in complicity with them. If we are not willing to fight, then just sit back and follow the sheep to the slaughter.
The govment’ is pushing EV so hard that gasoline road use taxes aren’t paying the bills anymore. Who is paying for road maintence? I see the logic but hate to lose the freedom, it’s not like they could allow us to report mileage voluntarily, oh wait we do on our income taxes when we claim our mileage credits.
Years ago, the auto insurance co.’s offered a a substantial savings on your premiums IF you installed a monitoring device in your car AND your driving habits met their arbitrary requirements.
I fell for it.
Well, let me tell you it was just a scam. They denied me my rebate because their monitoring device reported to them that I “excessively accelerated”(I had to pass a car) and I “braked abruptly”(I had to slow for a speed bump). Meanwhile, they were mining extensive data about my driving regimen, such as– how miles driven per day/week/month, avg. speed driven, braking distances, time of day that trips were taken, etc, etc, etc.
After denying me my discount, and realizing the True reason for the device, I took it out and sent it back. They tried repeatedly to get me to reinstall it. I steadfastly refused. They raised my rates. I quit the company(Progressive). Gotta know that all the data they collect from these devices will be used to formulate an actuarial “risk profile” on you personally. They will then use that to justify a rate increase(possibly a Big one!). They didn’t admit it, but it’s a short guess that they also were tracking where you were at any given time and where your trip destinations were.
So you see, the technology has been out there for years. It will only be a matter of “law” for the your Leftist overlords to mandate(there’s that word again) that every vehicle be equipped with one.
Anti-tamper mechanisms will be incorporated with harsh financial/criminal penalties attached for attempted deactivation or removal of the devices.
The Bible mentions taking the Mark of the Beast in your wrist or forehead. How about in your vehicle?
There were 19 so-called “Republican” Senators who already voted FOR this bogus Infrastructure Bill.
You need to check if yours is among them. I’m ashamed to say Both of mine did. One is a proven RINO, who is demonstrably trying to do as much damage as he can before his announced retirement next year. That would be one Richard Burr. The other is Thom Tillis, who keeps claiming that he’s a Conservative, yet shows his true RINO colors with this vote.
I will petition my state Republican Party to officially censure both of these turncoats; about all they can do, I believe. I urge you to take action if any of your reps are among those 19 Quislings.
I remember reading something Will Rogers said back about a hundred years ago, when asked if he was a Republican or Democrat, and he answered (paraphrasing here) that he didn’t belong to an organized political party as he was a Democrat. He also said, when asked, if he worried about the shenanigans both political parties were capable of, and he replied (again, paraphrasing here) he was not, as the United States Constitution was strong enough to keep either party from ruining the country. WHAT would that good man think now if he could see all the BS that passes for day-to-day politics and government in our country?
Where are the so called republicans on this issue? They talk big but when it comes to doing something they just give in to the democrats. They keep talking about the 2022 elections going to big win for the g.o.p. but we need things to happen now before it’s to late. They the republicans that you see on the news spouting off on how bad things are just interested in how much money they can make off their books and speaking engagements. They don’t care about us any more then the demos. Disgusted!
What uneducated fool would volunteer to be a test subject for a program that would track and tax you for every mile you drive?
The Democrat party has never met a money grab it didn’t like. This mileage added monstrosity is no different. This so-called “pilot program” violates Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on the middle class. Also. if anyone believes the lies being told to us that this program is (1) temporary and (2) any money that comes from this program will go toward funding future infrastructure projects, I have a nice cheap bridge I would love to sell you.
Actually, the “mileage tax” in itself is not a bad idea, since the revenue from the gasoline tax will decline as more fuel-efficient, hybrid and all-electric cars make their way onto the nations roads and highways. If such a tax were to REPLACE the tax on gasoline, I would not be opposed to it. It would also be superior to an tax on electricity, which is not just used for electric cars but also to power our homes, offices and factories (lights, heating & A/C, etc.).
The tax can be graduated according to the type of vehicle: motorcycles, automobiles, small trucks, large trucks and semi-tractors. Load capacity could also be used as a category for trucks. A separate category could also be created for farm vehicles, which operate mostly off-road and thus create little strain on our road infrastructure.
As to how to “collect” the tax, the mechanism can be simplicity, itself: Almost all states require an annual vehicle inspection (and those which don’t do so should). The odometer reading can be taken during this process (initially at the dealership of origin and subsequently by the inspection station) and reported to the state, which passes it on to the Feds. Yes, it will require creation of a database to maintain the records (and notify the “enforcers” if an annual report is not received) but that is far less intrusive than some writers’ nightmares of gps-based mileage tracking.
All electric cars will not be paying taxes on gas that we all now pay, a tax that supposedly goes toward infrastructure, ..so maybe the mileage tax on only electric cars can replace that lost money, but the law would likely tax everyone.
Biden/Obama/Harris will tax us until our US dollar is completely worthless and America is gone!!!
This is a nightmare waiting to happen. We absolutely DO NOT need our government to be able to track our every move. What’s next… having to carry “papers” to prove we are of the right political party in order to walk around our neighborhoods? This country wasn’t founded on government control of the people, rather it was founded on control of the government by the people!
I’ve been telling people that although the situation in Afghanistan is terrible, it’s also being used to divert our attention away from the steady push to turn our nation socialist/communist by the leftists. If they want you to look to the right, look to your left to see what’s really going on.
THE GREAT DISCONNECT! Looking at that picture of them all wearing masks, all I could think about was how they looked like socialist puppets. The behavior of these people border on or are criminal. And they wonder why the Populist protested at the Capitol on Jan. 6th.
Wake up fellow Conservative Populist Patriots.
There is already a huge federal tax on fuel that should be a road tax but , they dump all money in the budget and then overspend from there. In Mo. they did that with the lottery money so when they asked voters fo more fuel tax for roads we voted it down until that issue was fixed its accountability . The federal government is out of control and that is why it takes someone like Trump to fix it a non politician.
The Democrats are trying to destroy this country, I don’t believe they will ever take control in any capacity again , bring on the Kraken
Will never vote Democrat ever again, neither will my family. Shame on all of you with President Biden at the top.
The old saying “Nero fiddled while Rome Burned”. Quit playing “Smoke&Mirrors” with AMERICA and put this nation back together.
Would it not be easier to put tolls (or increase) on interstates. This way the people who use the road would be paying for the road. If you do not want to pay the toll, take the alternate non toll road. In addition to level the playing field they would have to add an electricity tax to anyone driving an electric car. If they do a mileage tax, it could be voluntarily reported with the IRS auditing a certain percentage. But there is no need for anyone to be tracking everywhere you go, of course if you have your android on with location it essentially is.
Just like magicians move your attention elsewhere when they perform their magic trick, Biden’s leftists have created all kinds of crisis to get us to look elsewhere while they destroy the America we know and love. But in spite of that, Americans do not lose sight of what is important. Keep watching how Biden, Pelosi, Schumer and the rest of the leftist dems are trying to destroy what makes America great, our Constitution and the freedoms that gives us. No other nation has that.
Utterly crazy how the left is killing America as we knew it. We are spiralling out of control with so much under Democrats. People wake up and see whats happening.
Would love someone to wake the woke and let them know every penny of USA equipment left in Afghanistan will be deducted from this Pelousy trillion spending spree.
The government, esp Dems-Socialists whatever they want to be called–are only interested in power and control, as always. They don’t have to live by the rules they set for us little people.
This is BS !! First they want your Money next they’ll want to microchip everybody !!
ENOUGH! Doesn’t anyone in congress have any balls. Where are our super heroes. America does not deserve this. The most generous nation in the world, Im sick of being bilked. Im sick of the corruption in DC. Im sick of no accountability in government. We need TERM LIMITS and AGE LIMITS. What happened to reporting??? Im sick of opining, overpaid, talking heads. I want to know the truth about Covid, I want to know the truth about Afghanistan. Im sick of the ridiculous numbers being thrown out on a whim about every crises. Does anyone have a clue to what has happened to my country? I want all these thieves, grifters and overpaid bureaucrats (Dr Fauci) taken out in chains, tried and brought to justice, I want to see them ruined, broke and disgraced.
Gee, that was fun.
This is a catastrophe on our country. Knowing the expected results of their bullshit programs, if America allows this to happen then it’s on us… wake up America before it’s too late
More Democratic SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM!!!! I’m so appalled at the DEM’S greed and insanity. Don’t the majority of Americans see their destruction of our American values?? We’ve already spent $800,000 billion in a middle-East war we shouldn’t have been for the past 20 years. What happened to AMERICA FIRST??? Bring back Trump and let him do what’s right for America!
Where the hell are the elected representatives who promised to keep an eye on big government? You can quit asking me for money until I know why our politicians become millionaires on so called government salaries. Where are their tax returns?
That is a very unfair tax. California wants to do this, too. Y’all don’t get to double and triple tax people because you want more money. And y’all don’t get to touch our automobiles when we have never had to pay you for registration or anything like that – it would be a state tax, NOT federal. I think this is overreach to the point of ridiculousness and it’s time to throw barrels of gasoline into Boston Harbor, or whatever the equivalent is. Wake up, people! This is tyranny!
I hope we can vote the DEMs out of office; cheats, liars, sneaks. The tax payer is their vehicle to stay in office and keep their POWER. They don’t care about the American people at all.
No way. This Tax is ridiculous way to sneak around and punish us for our freedom to move about our nation. This is lunacy as we already pay for the highways to be built and maintained. This fund will be used for their idea of a green new deal restricting our lives to what the green new deal think is acceptable.
I think the congress should refuse to consider anything until the Afghanistan and Southern Border issues are resolved satisfactory. So long as Biden/Harris, Miley, SECDEF, SECSTATE and the National Security team are in place, the republicans should refuse to place a quorum in the congress. These people do not know what they are doing – if they do they need to be prosecuted/fired
When our country is in debt, we our beholding to those that control that debt. It is so selfish to our children to allow our strength to be removed by our debt to control our sanity and pass our weakness from it to our children to pay the price that we selfishly created. We have become such irresponsible stewards of our values and history. Wake up America when God removes his Blessing upon a Nation, that Nation will fall. We are heading for that fall as God has removed his hedge of protection upon us as a we have removed Him from everything we once had invited him into. Humanism and communism, Marxism are overcoming our once dearly held Christian Values as a nation. So sad, come quickly Lord Jesus.
Amen Adelle, even if a Democratic candidate seems okay, just remember they belong to a party that is destroying America. If they can tolerate what the party as a whole is doing then they are no better than their peers. No matter how nice they seem, a vote for them is a vote for ruin.
Is it really Bi-partisan to have a few Republicans on board ? Biden makes it sound like there is cooperation but even some of his own party are not enthusiastic about the bill and are pressured by the Democratic Party to vote for it. Anybody with common sense knows we are spending way too much money that we don’t have and can’t get back even with major tax increases. It’s just throwing money out the window to keep those votes coming in for the next election.
Nothing seems to matter to these people……stubbornly pushing their agenda, regardless. The same
kind of game being played over and over and over…..and republicans seem to be either inept or disinterested in the whole thing….or on board. How far must this go before people get off their duffs,raise a stink and start responding. My reps and senators get notes, letters and calls from me on a regular basis….to the point I think I have become a pest…..and their responses remain the same, the form letters and “sound’s good” rhetoric…the constant claim they are doing their very best to serve the voter….the pat answers to all the questions……and every one of them ends with a request for financial help in their next election campaign…..and that’s the whole point……get re-elected. Some are democrats, but most are republicans…..and for me there seems to be little difference as far as the outcome. We are in trouble as a nation, and I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, just more tunnel.
I find it hard to believe that more citizens don’t know what’s going on…I know that this administration doesn’t care about what’s going on in Afghanistan…I think it was done on purpose…any distraction will do for the takeover…population control…only the rich will survive…which is the intention..the rest will be all one class…paying the government salary with forced taxes…there will be no Democrats or Republicans…all one party…like “China”… Please WAKE UP AMERICAN…God knows what is going on…keep your faith…
Let’s make this REAL simple – ( D ) communist rules – TAX – SPEND – LIE – CONTROL.
LOL, the end of the article is funny. Why, because a demoncrat congress does not CARE one iota about anything but their power and therefore their ability to get rich without ever actually producing or being an employer. The left is pure evil.
Only one thing thats going to stop these radical terrorists in Washington…time to heat up the tar and break out the feathers….talking is done *S*s
Any Representative or Senator who votes for these bills should re voted out!
Are our Representatives going to be asleep during this (again) ???
“TAX & SPEND” has been the DEMO motto for many years !
I emailed all my representatives in Nevada regarding this. I’ll continue to communicate to them how disappointed I am with the bills they are putting forth to implement. I don’t expect much, since they are Democrats, but I voted, and my folks did not get elected.
Can’t fix stupid! Have to vote them out!!!
I’m certain that whatever the democrats want to do will be chock full of greed, hypocrisy and sin.
They’ll probably win, but only for a while, then, as emerill says, “Bam”!
I don’t see how we can stop the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill since it has already passed in the Senate and the House is controlled by Pelosi. This is horrible that 19 Republican Senators agreed to this! We will need to focus on the actual National Mileage Tax bill that we can look forward to in the future and STOPPING THAT.
I also am concerned that Americans are letting the Democrats distract us from their POWER GRABS as everyone is focused on AFGHANISTAN. We need to keep an eye on the Infrastructure Bill, Budget Reconciliation plan, and HR1. These Democrats in DC are like a dog with a bone and will not give up trying to Control our State Mandated Voting Laws and Union Control of workers rights and eliminating State Right To Work laws.
With the Afghanistan mess, Dems are hoping to distract us from the Dems taking Control of State rights that are in many of the their Bills as they work to get them passed. We have to stop this.
The last thing we need is more taxation in this country! Sneaking in another tax that hurts anyone making less than 100K is unjust!
Its none of your business where i drive, how many miles i drive or dont drive. Stay the hell out of my affairs and leave me the hell alone. Who died and left you jerks the bosses of us all? Have you schmucks forgotten that you work for us and we do not work for you? We are not your cash cow to be milked at every opportunity.