gas tax
-
Drive a Hybrid? VMT Tax Will Chip Away at Your Savings
So much for the gas tax savings among drivers of hybrids, electric cars or other fuel-efficient vehicles...
After years of cost savings for fuel-efficient car buyers, the government wants the gasoline-tax revenue that was lost at the pump because the fuel-efficient cars don't have to fill up as much as other vehicles.
That's why the Obama administration is floating the idea of taxing you per miles driven, or as preliminary legislation puts it, "vehicles miles traveled" (VMT).
Yes, you read that right: A new tax on every mile you drive.
-
These Gas Tax Hikes Will Make Driving A Lot More Expensive
Americans worried about how rising oil prices might affect prices at the pump are about to get blindsided by looming gas tax hikes that almost guarantee higher gasoline prices.
And it's not just state governments looking to shake down American motorists.
Alarmingly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called for the U.S. government to increase the current federal gasoline tax of $0.184 per gallon by a whopping $1.40.
In a March 26 speech, IMF Deputy Director David Lipton said the gas tax hike would pay for social programs around the world as well as to save the environment.
"The time has come for subsidy reform and carbon taxation," Lipton said.
This federal gas tax hike, if imposed, would add $14 to a typical 10-gallon fill-up and hundreds of dollars to the annual cost of driving.
Fortunately for U.S. drivers, few in Washington support the IMF proposal.
"Higher gas prices hit those who can least afford it the most as American families are forced to pay a larger percentage of their income on higher energy prices," Rep. Fred Upton, R-MI, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told Fox Business. "Drivers across the country are already struggling to pay up to $4.00 a gallon for gas, and further price increases at the pump could be devastating to low- and middle-class families and disastrous to our economic recovery."
Now if only state legislatures felt the same way...
-
Pay-Per-Mile Tax Will Make Every Road a Toll Road
If you thought all the talk about taxing the rich meant the government would not be reaching deeper into the pockets of most Americans, then you haven't heard about the pay-per-mile tax.
It hasn't happened yet. But Congress is considering a new way of taxing American drivers that would charge them per mile instead of the current 18.4 cent-per-gallon gasoline tax they pay now.
A new study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that such a pay-per-mile tax, also known as a vehicle-miles-traveled tax (VMT tax) or ObamaMiles, would cost the average American motorist at least $100 more per year than the current gasoline tax.
The problem the federal government faces is that the annual gasoline tax revenue of $34 billion has fallen far below the $78 billion required to maintain the country's highway system.
