It’s insane how grabby some states are becoming with their citizens’ money. Take North Carolina, for instance. Their “congestion” problem is so bad that they want to tax drivers based on the amount of miles they drive in a year, as if that’s going to somehow lessen the number of cars on the road.

With gas-tax revenues plummeting, the state of North Carolina is looking seriously at taxing motorists for how far they drive.

If the “road-use tax” is implemented, it would at first be simple – with the state checking your odometer annually and taxing you based on how many miles you have driven. But transportation experts say new GPS technology could allow the state to charge people different rates based on when and where they drive, in an attempt to manage congestion.

I don’t get how this manages congestion. At best, it’s a punitive tax on people who drive their cars. Oddly enough, that form of taxation is the most regressive, since it’s a flat rate for people no matter how much they make. At a time when people are closer and closer to living paycheck to paycheck, the State of North Carolina decides that now is the time for them to start managing congestion?

What, was I born ten minutes ago?

One commenter nailed it, however.

Isn’t this another multiple-multiple tax? They have a sales tax on the purchase of the vehicle, they tax the gasoline, they tax the tires, they tax the upkeep-repairs-service of your vehicle, they have a licensing-registration tax, they have an emissions check tax, they have a vehicle property tax, and now they want to tax the usage. Oh yeah, don’t forget about toll roads too.

Are we ever going to stand up to this kind of thing? Or have we gotten so comfortable and afraid of rocking the boat that we willingly accept a blatant reach into our wallets like this? Frankly, I’m appalled that this idea even got far enough to make it into a newspaper.

At what point do we tell the government “the next time you reach into my pocket, you have to answer to me for doing so?” As much as I hate to say it, this is part and parcel to our crappy two-party system. People, in the year 2008, would rather keep their party in office than revolt and tell them enough is enough and risk the “other guy” gaining power.

That’s where we are in 2008.

Source via Bridget