No government currently active in the world will ever say "we are getting enough money from the taxpayers." This fact is being slammed home in the state of Oregon, which is planning on enlisting Big Brother to extort more money from its citizenry.
Citing loss of revenue from fuel taxes--the high price of gas and energy consciousness have resulted in lower fuel sales--the money grubbing bureaucracy in Oregon has proposed taxing its citizens on highway mileage. This would be done by installing tracking devices in privately owned vehicles and using GPS linked computers to keep track of the distance traveled on Oregon's public roads. The government claims that the whereabouts and destinations of the vehicle would not be tracked, but this claim is questionable, as it would require the ability to detect that the cars are within state lines.
It could be argued that this technique could be useful in tracking potential terrorists and drug trafficers, but only vehicles owned by residents and private business would be tracked, so this would not be a very effective tool. It is merely a system from which to get more money.
Anyone not living in a cave is aware that a government contract to repair roads is much more costly than any private construction contract would be, if the roads were privately owned. In a government contract, not only may the contracter claim inflated costs--which may be legitimized by the fact that government contracters are required to pay a higher minimum wage--but those in the government who negotiate the contract and oversee the construction, traffic control, etc, have to get their take in the deal. Such is bureaucracy, which in general has rarely been for the public good. This is why the state of Oregon feels it cannot afford to be energy conscious without additional revenues.
This is indeed counterproductive to the trend to resist high energy costs. American consumers are not rewarded for cutting back on demand, but are further penalized by additional taxes. It is sickening to see what a government will result to for the purposes of extortion.
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2 comments:
i dont know if i should laugh or cry...judas priest...
Hey thanks for stopping by my blog. I sympathize with many aspects of the libertarian party but remain a progressive/liberal but I love hearing all sides. Especially from the biggest 3rd party in the country.
I think both parties have lost their way in the realm of civil liberties and privacy. While I'm discouraged to see this plan brought up a small part of me isn't shocked. I also still worry about too much privatizing since we have horror stories about Haliburton and such making the rounds. They're a bigger enemy to our soldiers than the terrorists at times. Unfortunately, I'm resigned to the fact that government is going to plow money into what it wants to regardless of what we say. So I argue why not spend it here instead of there if they're going to tax us anyway.
However,there's a way, somewhere out there, to get this all to work.
My URL is: www.thericardoweb.com
Thanks again for stopping by.
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