Proposed (Again) A Tax On Driving

TaxConnections Picture - Blue CarIs driving an “option” for you? Me neither. You take the kids to school and after-school activities. You drive to work or your job requires you to drive for sales calls. Maybe you are a farmer living in a rural area and need to go into town frequently to take care of business.

Unless you are a city-dwelling sort who uses a bicycle to get around, you are about to see your freedom to travel about this country infringed upon.

The government is coming to tax every mile you drive.

We told you earlier this year that Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced a bill (H.R. 6662) that would require the Treasury Department to tax cars for each mile they drive.

Thankfully, it died in committee. Still, we can’t rest on this issue.

Prior to this, in March 2011, the Congressional Budget Office released a report saying a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) program was a “practical option” for raising funds. The CBO helpfully suggested that devices could be put on cars that read mileage, and that information could be read electronically at gas stations.

The Chicago Tribune reports this week, “As America’s road planners struggle to find the cash to mend a crumbling highway system, many are beginning to see salvation in a little black box that fits neatly by the dashboard of your car.”

But I digress, The Tribune goes on, “The devices, which track every mile a motorist drives and transmit that information to bureaucrats, are at the center of a controversial attempt in Washington and state planning offices to overhaul the outdated system for funding America’s major roads.”

This tax is unfair as it weighs most heavily on the suburbs and rural communities. It’s robbing “the country to give to the city.”

What is next? Will they tax the air we breathe, the steps we take, or the number of kids we have?  Did you read about places already taxing people based upon the amount of rain that falls on the square footage of your property roof line! Chilling!

In accordance with Circular 230 Disclosure

An Enrolled Agent and U.S. Tax Court Practitioner, I represent taxpayers in front of the IRS and the U.S. Tax Court on self-prepared tax returns and tax returns prepared by other tax preparers. I handle CDP hearings, collection cases and contested issues in IRS audits. With more than three decades of experience working with small individual returns to large, multi-company and multinational companies returns I have a broad breadth of experience and am in the position to help you.

As an Approved Continuing Education Provider, I am available to speak to organizations throughout the United States on Tax and Tax Research issues.

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