'miles driven' tax

[John Dibble]

Terrible idea. You'd need a new layer of bureaucracy to implement it, and it's horribly regressive. Some people can't afford to move closer to where they work, so it'll punish a lot of people just for being in the situation they are in. I have a relative who is a good example - she's a prison nurse and she has to drive an hour each way, and she is not going to be able to move from where she is for a multitude of reasons.

This would also discourage tourism for many areas, as people would be less likely to want to drive to wherever they want to go for their vacations because it will now cost them more. Not everyone can afford plane tickets for their whole family. The decrease in tourism would result in economic decline in areas that depend on it.

We're far better off investing into research on viable fuel alternatives and encouraging people to buy more fuel efficient vehicles.

[John Dibble]

Set the tax based on the assumption you drive the vehicle 10000 mi/yr and let people appeal it if they can show they drove less.

Wouldn't that defeat the entire purpose the tax is being proposed for considering that it wouldn't tax the people who drove more than that anything additional?