Every time I turn around, these scumbag Democrats are dreaming up more ways that allow them to "take" more of my money! And I can't help but wonder when this madness is going to stop? Hopefully we’ll have the necessary courage to bring to an end all of this spending insanity in 2012. Because if we choose not to take advantage of that, most likely our last, opportunity, what we can then come to expect is something like this rather nightmarish scenario to become very much a reality. Because you see, Barry is now entertaining the thought of implementing yet another new tax, this time one that’s based on how many miles you drive your car. Yup, that’s right! And not only would you have to pay Barry's new tax, but you would also be required to install his magical little electronic device in your car that will track your miles for him. And of course it goes without saying that the government would have to create a whole new regulation office adding to an already severely bloated and costly bureaucracy. With this idea in mind, the Barry "Almighty" administration is floating the idea of a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and a plan for implementation of this tax on automobile drivers based on how many miles they insist on driving. The plan is a part of the administration's "Transportation Opportunities Act," and a copy of the 498 page draft has been obtained by Transportation Weekly. This whole idea behind this little piece of extremely damaging legislation stems from a March Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that supported the revenue raising concept of taxing drivers based on their miles driven. Among other things, the CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations. Is this Big Brother running amok or what? Or, is it simply a warped version of the "Hope and Change" that so many morons voted for?
Anyway, now that word of this little money making scheme of Barry's has managed to leak out, it should come as no big surprise here that a concerted effort has now been employed to downplay this entire "idea", at least for now, by a White House that was very quick to say that the bill is only an early draft that has not been formally circulated within the administration. “This is not an administration proposal,” said White House spokesperson Jennifer Psaki. Right, and if you believe that I’ve got some prime ocean front property in Arizona that I can sell you. Do they really think that we're that stupid? This has had Barry’s grubby little fingerprints all over it right from the get go. “This is not a bill supported by the administration. This was an early working draft proposal that was never formally circulated within the administration, does not take into account the advice of the president’s senior advisers, economic tram or Cabinet officials and does not represent the views of the president.” To expect us to believe that this whole idea is not supported whole-heartedly now, or is something that will most definitely be pushed for in the future by this White House, is nothing if not arrogant to the freaking extreme. It's nonsense, and I’m more than a little surprised that this White House bimbo could make such a statement while maintaining a straight face. This cadre of liars must think that the American people are so stupid that we’ll simple believe whatever it is that they tell us. Well I’m here to tell them that just ain’t so!
Now look, it goes without saying to which political party those who are behind this entire little scheme belong. This scheme which is but just one more bureaucratic nightmare that the American people may, in the end, yet find themselves being “forced” to contend with. Only a Liberal Democrat could have ever conceived of a rationale for requesting the CBO to provide such an idiotic report in the first place, because only a Democrat would come up with such a nutty idea as taxing your car by the mile. In this case it was none other than the Senate Budget Committee Chairman, Kent Conrad (D-ND) who thought it would be just a jim-dandy idea to start taxing cars by the mile as a way of increasing federal highway revenue. What a guy! After all, he won’t be subjected to any of the requirements generated by this thing if actually enacted. Our buddy Barry, you know guy who took credit for Osama’s recent demise, seems to have followed up on that idea, going to far as to list it in section 2218 of the draft Transportation bill. It's that very same little section which would create, within the Federal Highway Administration, now get this, a "Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office." Can you believe this? You can't make this stuff up! This little office would be tasked with creating a "study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage based user fee system and other systems." Now ain't that a mouthful of liberal gobble-de-gook? The draft version of this ridiculous piece of legislation states that the "study framework" for this screwball project, along with a public awareness communications plan, should be established within two years, and that field tests should begin within four years. This Surface Transportation Revenue Office would be required to consider four factors in field trials: the capability of states to enforce payment, the reliability of the technology, administrative costs and of course the biggie, "user acceptance."
Barry does seem to be aware of the of the fact the he's going to need to use his all of his oratory skills as a "community agitator" in an effort to properly "prepare" the public for what would likely prove to be a rather controversial change to the way transportation funds are currently collected. For example, this little addition to an already too large bureaucracy, will be called upon to serve a public relations function, in other words one of its primary functions into con the American people into thinking this cockamamie policy is actually a good idea. This draft describes a means to persuade and to "increase public awareness regarding the need for an alternative funding source for surface transportation programs and provide information on possible approaches." What? Do these govern"mental" midgets really think that we're stupid enough to fall for any of this progressive drivel? As I have heard any number of people say and on any number of occasions, what we have here is not a REVENUE problem, what we have is an outrageous SPENDING problem, one might even go so far as to call an addiction. Yet on which end of this spectrum do Democrats insist on focusing the only amount of attention? Why is it, that the “only” topics or ideas ever discussed by these greedy, power hungry Democrats as being possible solutions to our debt problem, involve nothing more than coming up with ever more creative and inventive ways of raising more revenue. How about we CUT THE RABID amount of SPENDING that is presently underway, and has been for quite some time? Here's the real clincher though folks, this new "Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office" currently being discussed would be funded a total of $300 Million through FY-2017 for this cockamamie project. This is crazy.
As was stated earlier this CBO report was originally requested by Democrat Kent Conrad, who held a hearing on transportation funding in early March. In that hearing, Barry's boob of a Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, stated that Barry was looking to spend a whopping $556 Billion over the course of the next 6 years, and that much of that money, was supposedly going to used for funding federal transportation improvement projects. Conrad, in making the understatement of the decade, said in response that federal funds are tight. In asking for recommendations on how to raise that money, he noted the possibility of a VMT tax as a way to solve the problem of collecting less in taxes as people move to more fuel-efficient vehicles. Ok, first Democrats implement their little experiment in behavior modification by they’re sitting back and allowing gas prices to skyrocket, and then they turn right around and try to make up for any lost tax revenue by coming up with what they see as being the perfect way to do so. The taxing us for the miles that we drive. So in the end we are essentially forced into buying smaller cars by this gangster government in an effort to save ourselves a little money, only to then see that money taken from us by these corrupt Democrats through some new way they have finagled to steal it from us. It's freakin amazing. "Do we do gas tax?" Conrad asked. "Do we move to some kind of an assessment that is based on how many miles vehicles go, so that we capture revenue from those who are going to be using the roads who aren't going to be paying any gas tax, or very little, with hybrids and electric cars?" So we essentially get penalized for buying more fuel efficient cars, talk about a Catch 22.
This idiot Conrad argued some recommendation should be made by his committee on these issues when the Senate considers a transportation spending bill later this year. The CBO's report stressed it was making no recommendations but seemed to support a VMT tax as a more accurate way of having drivers pay for the costs of highway maintenance. The report said miles driven is a larger factor in highway repairs than fuel consumption and suggested that having drivers pay for the real costs of highways "would involve imposing a combination of fuel taxes and per-mile charges." At this rate by the time I finish buying groceries, gas and now maybe paying for the miles I drive to and from the job that allows my to by those groceries and that gas, I'll have nothing left. This CBO report discussed the proposal in great detail, including the development of technology that would allow total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to be tracked, reported and then taxed. It also discussed the pros and cons of mandating the installation of this technology in all vehicles. “In the past, the efficiency costs of implementing a system of VMT changes, particularly the costs of users’ time for slowing and queuing at tollbooths, would clearly have outweighs the potential benefits from more efficient use of highway capacity,” CBO wrote. “Now, electronic metering and billing are making per-mile charges a practical option.” Oh goodie! I just can't get over the fact of how these Democrats, who continue to say that they are working to improve economy, present nothing more than policies that continue to inflict even more damage upon. I feel like I'm in some alternate universe or something where everything is just the opposite of what it should be. It makes me wonder what it is that they are really trying to accomplish here.
Of course conservative economists, commentators, and politicians everywhere have been and are continuing to, blast this draft Barry "Almighty" plan that envisions using Big Brother-like tracking devices on private cars to tax drivers on how many miles they travel. I think we all know with some certainty that Barry is a very big fan of using Big Brother tactics, so this little exercise should come as no surprise. This new tax scheme, supposed designed to help fund transportation spending, would do more than to simple determine your mileage with the installing of some electronic equipment on your car. This little gizmo implanted on your car would also be monitoring your location and how far you’ve traveled. Fox host Lou Dobbs offered this reaction to the trial balloon on his radio show Thursday: “We’ve got an effective unemployment rate of nearly 17 percent in this country, and these idiots want to tax car mileage. It’s nuts, what they want to do,” he said. Cato economist Chris Edwards has said that the proposal, which he considers “a terrible idea,” is part of the reauthorization of U.S. transportation programs that is expected to occur sometime in the next 12 months. “There is a high degree of risk that there’s going to be all kinds of big government, intrusive stuff in this bill,” he warns. One Republican quick to criticize the mileage tax on Thursday was former GOP Sen. George Allen. Allen, who is campaigning to represent the Old Dominion in the U.S. Senate, released a statement that: “In our struggling economy, the worst thing Washington can do is raise taxes on middle-class families and small businesses. Yet that is exactly what the latest scheme being floated by Washington Democrats calls for."
So I guess what I'd like to ask all of those who voted for our "community agitator" of a president, especially those who make up the 85 percent of the black folks who still seem to be so enthralled with him is this. How's all that "Hope and Change" workin for ya? After two years of this guy being in office do you now consider yourself to be any better off than you were before he was elected?
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