A government-spending watchdog says a recently discussed plan for raising tax revenue for America's roads should scare anyone who drives a car.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently stated that he would be willing to implement a plan that will tax motorists on the amount of miles driven. Massachusetts lawmakers have considered such a plan, and pilot programs have been implemented in the Northwest United States. In order to track the mileage, cars will have to be fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) units. This has prompted fear of a "big brother state," and some critics are calling it Orwellian intrusion. David Williams, vice-president of policy with Citizens Against Government Waste, has similar concerns. "[I]t looks like this could be a camel's nose under the tent," Williams offers. "You know, this is the first step -- you put a GPS unit in every car to, quote, 'track mileage.' Well, what else is it going to track? And what else are they going to monitor?" Yet it is consistent with what he sees government desiring these days. "...[I]t gets with the government's obsession with two things: knowing everything about us, and collecting money from us," he says. But lawmakers have been talking about replacing the gas tax with the mileage tax. OneNewsNow asked Williams if that was a realistic goal. "Well, if this were to be like the income tax or the tax system, they probably would not get rid of something -- they would just add onto another layer," he states. "Because every time they talk about reforming the tax system...no one really says to get rid of the current tax system. So [I suspect] we would see it as just another layer." Williams says lawmakers are talking about other tax sources for roads because the current system has been poorly managed. For example, Williams says millions of dollars have been used to plant flowers instead of repair roads and bridges.
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