Here Comes the Odometer Tax

Here Comes the Odometer Tax

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 - Andrew K. Dart  Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Many state governments are considering an odometer tax, also known as a "Vehicle-miles traveled" (VMT) tax, whereby motorists would be taxed based on the number of miles driven. [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]  Most likely disguised or justified as an effort to "save the earth" from global warming,[13] this would be just another tax, as if there weren't enough taxes already.
This new tax would be objectionable even if the money went to a worthwhile project, such as road and bridge repair.  But unfortunately Uncle Sam—or the states with VMT—will probably spend the money on pork barrel projects,[14] or give it to someone who is too lazy to work.[15]
Life with the odometer tax would be less than carefree, and for some, no fun at all. It would be like taking a taxi wherever you go—you would pay by the mile to drive your own car!  The odometer tax would add yet another layer of taxation to the gasoline tax, the annual license plate fee, the county road and bridge fee, the federal tax on tires, and the cost of your annual state inspection sticker—all of which you pay with the money from your paycheck, from which income taxes have already been extracted.  We're taxed enough already, don't you think?  Where have I heard that before?[16,17]
The VMT system would affect big-city apartment dwellers a lot less than the residents of rural areas west of the Mississippi and east of California.  College students and residents of housing projects typically don't own automobiles—they ride bicycles or take the bus.  That's why the VMT system is most likely to be adopted first in California or New York, like so many other bad ideas over the years, and then slowly spread to other states.  It's always the "blue state" governments that come up with more and more ways to raise taxes.

How would it work?

As I see it, there are only two practical ways to implement an odometer tax:  By reading your car's odometer, presumably when you get your annual state inspection, or by putting a GPS receiver and yet another "black box" in your car.

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