In the annals of dumb political ideas, few could be dumber than the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax. The basic idea of the VMT tax is as it sounds: drivers would be taxed by the number of miles they drive in a calendar year.  

If you live in New York City, no problem, you probably don't drive much anyway.  If you live in Montana, where the drive to take the kids to a playdate - one way - can take as much as an hour, well, too bad for you, you live in Montana.  Cling to your guns and carpool to church.

Transportation Weekly recently published a draft of the Obama Administration's Transportation Opportunities Act and buried deep within it is....the VMT tax.  The Hill reports:

The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.

Needless to say, the White House immediately showered the VMT section of the Transportation Opportunities Act with gasoline and threw matches all over it.

The Hill continues:

The White House, however, said the bill is only an early draft that was not formally circulated within the administration.

“This is not an administration proposal," White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. "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 taken into account the advice of the president’s senior advisers, economic team or Cabinet officials, and does not represent the views of the president.”

Thus ended the VMT tax's brief spin as a policy proposal.  

progressiveslol wrote on May 8^th, 2011 at 12:59am:


A fuel tax would have the same effect and be enormously cheaper to implement and prob require no new legislation.