Some surprising news out of the Department of Transportation today as Ray LaHood suggests that the Obama administration is considering taxing people based on how many miles they drive. A vehicle miles traveled tax, as the proposal is often called, has been under consideration in states like Rhode Island and Idaho and has, not surprisingly, proven pretty unpopular. First, it's a tax. Second, it requires the installation of a GPS chip to record miles driven and beam the information to centralized computers. Sorry, did that sound Orwellian? I meant a small transponder that informs the government of your driving habits. Crap. This is hard to sell.In the interview with the Associated Press, LaHood set the vmt in opposition to a gasoline tax, which he "firmly opposes," at least during the current recession. There's some logic to that. Gasoline is a very visible, and very unpredictable, cost. Every summer, particularly in recent years, the price of fuel becomes a tier one political issue, in large part because it rises so much from the winter. It's hard to imagine a gasoline tax being sustained. Vehicle miles traveled, by contrast, is both steadier and less visible. The orange line on the following graph is the price of gas while the red line is vmt:
Vehicle miles traveled just has that silky smoothness, you know? Which makes it less galling for taxpayers. It's also got a nice internal logic: LaHood is arguing for the tax in order to fund infrastructure -- and in particular, highway -- construction. The heaviest drivers -- both in terms of frequency and car weight -- exert the heaviest wear-and-tear on the roads. Why shouldn't they pay?
Vehicle miles traveled just has that silky smoothness, you know? Which makes it less galling for taxpayers. It's also got a nice internal logic: LaHood is arguing for the tax in order to fund infrastructure -- and in particular, highway -- construction. The heaviest drivers -- both in terms of frequency and car weight -- exert the heaviest wear-and-tear on the roads. Why shouldn't they pay? 
