The Cancer Spreads

I open my email this morning and what do I see but another encroachment and peering into the private lives of the citizens. If domestic spying was not enough, now big brother wants to know when and where you drive .... all of course under the guise of knowing how much you drive so as to collect money from you to keep you safe. What's next - government taxation of the library books you read, or the email that you send (oops that's already been done it was called The Stamp Act) with the excuse that they need to charge by the size of the book, and that therefore they need to know what books you are reading?

Here are some excerpts from the article:

CENews.com News Posted: Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Transportation commission urges shift to mileage-based fee
A bipartisan, congressionally created commission is urging lawmakers to fundamentally shift the way the federal government collects revenues to fund transportation infrastructure.... charging vehicle drivers a mileage fee embodies the "user pays" principle and more accurately aligns the costs and benefits of the surface transportation system to those who are using it. ..... "With the expected shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles," said Robert Atkinson, chair of the Financing Commission and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, "it will be increasingly difficult to rely on the gas tax to raise the funds needed to improve, let alone maintain, our nation's surface transportation infrastructure."

Some Points
#1 We already have a mileage based fee. It is called the gas tax. It measures directly how much a person is driving and if you want to collect more revenues, then adjust the tax.

#2 Does anybody else see the threat here to civil liberties. If I was wanting to be a tyrant this would be exactly one of the things that I would want implemented as a first step to tracking the people and controlling their movements. As entertaining as Jack Bauer has become, Jack Bauer is wrong. There were plenty of Jack Bauers in Nazi Germany.

#3 - There is plenty of revenue generated for highways. One problem is that it is siphoned off.

#4 - There is nothing wrong with the nation's infrastructure. Harping on this is but a ruse for one interest group to clamor for their share of the pie that has been stolen from them via taxation. In a previous life I used to be a practicing engineer and I am sickened at watching the engineering society descend on Washington along with all the other pigs to fight, grunting and slobbering, for their position at the trough of government handout and subsidy.

#5 - Instead of taxing us out the ass - how about stopping the spending.

#6 - Still looking for the valley - if anybody knows were it is, let me know.