I have an idea. Let’s have a driving tax. It’ll be based on annual mileage, so the more you drive, the more you pay. If you live in the suburbs and commute an hour one way, you’ll be taxed heavily. If you live in the city and take the train to work, you pay nothing.
This already exists. If you live far away from your job and/or you drive a car that has low mileage, you buy more gas. Therefore, you pay more gas taxes. Sorry it’s not a progressive PENALTY based on your freedom to choose where you live and what you drive, but the built-in realities of burning a half a tank of gas to get to-and-from work every day should be forcing people to make better decisions. If they’re not, then they’re going to have serious pocketbook problems, with or without this proposal.
Plus, you forget that the cost of gas affects the cost of everything else. Hell, we’ve seen it with the current cost of groceries going through the roof (between the price of gas and the skyrocketing cost of corn thanks to those that shoved Ethanol down our throats).
Please, people. If it’s one thing I wish I could impress on you all is that when it comes to public policy… THINK, DON’T FEEL.
