Usually, I take stories at World Net Daily with a big grain of salt, and sometimes, aspirin, but, this one points to the next possible Nanny State adventure, something that has been kicked around in Los Federales world, as well as in state government world
An Oregon congressman says he wants to test having a government GPS unit in every car so a tax could be imposed on the miles driven.
The proposal, H.R. 3311, which calls for a test project costing $150 million-plus, was introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.
“Oregon has successfully tested a Vehicle Miles Traveled fee, and it is time to expand and test the VMT program across the country,” he said in a statement on his website. “A VMT system can better assess fees based on use of our roads and bridges, as well as during times of peak congestion, than a fee based on fuel consumption
“It is time to get creative and find smart ways to rebuild and renew America’s deteriorating infrastructure,” he said.
On one hand, you could make a case for the tax, as based on the purpose of the legislation
To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a pilot program to study alternatives to the current system of taxing motor vehicle fuels, including systems based on the number of miles traveled by each vehicle.
However, does anyone think that the federal gas tax would actually be removed? Yeah, me neither. The WND article mentions that this legislation does not call for the rescinding of the gas tax, however, let’s not forget that the legislation is only meant to establish a test program.
Surprisingly, Blumenauer’s legislation has no co-sponsors. Usually, Democrats love spending money frivilously, especially when it gives them more power. In a previous WMD article, Henry Lamb had this to say
“The proposed GPS road tax system could easily be programmed to listen to and record conversations inside any vehicle. It could stop a vehicle, lock the occupants inside and notify the ‘jack boots’ that the occupants were en route to a tea party,” Lamb wrote. “We would hope that the federal government would never sink to the level of paranoia that gripped Nazi Germany. But then, we also hoped that the federal government would never sink to the level of labeling legal, peaceful assemblies, such as the recent tea parties, as gatherings of potential terrorists.”
Usually, I would call BS on that type of talk, thinking that it went way overboard into conspiracy theory fantasy land, but, considering the demonizing of those who oppose health system (can’t say care) reform and Obama’s little snitch email address, Lamb is still over the top, but, still hits the mark.
What else could GPS monitoring do? Quite frankly, forcing people to have these on their vehicles should make everyone feel like a criminal who is being monitored. Last time I checked, we have a Constitution which forbids this. Where are all the Liberals who screamed for almost 8 years about Bush and Republicans tearing up the Constitution now?
