Obama Now Wants to Tax Americans per Mile They Drive

With Americans driving less the United States government has seen a decline in federal fuel taxes. The numbers speak for themselves. Since 2007, consumption has fallen 13 percent, or 1.2 million barrels a day on average. The federal fuel tax is the United States is 18.4 cents a gallon. Do the math and you will see the United States is losing money as Americans drive less and buy more efficient cars.

Obama wants to penalize you for this. He is floating the idea of taxing Americans for every mile they drive.

The Hill Reports:

The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.

The plan is a part of the administration's "Transportation Opportunities Act," an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.

So, how would the federal government track how many miles you are driving. Well, it now looks like Cash for Clunkers may have been truly a test run to see if the federal government could lure consumers to buy new cars in order to get older cars off the road. Why is this important?

Well newer cars have computers in them that collect all sorts of information about your driving and your car. These are called OBD computers and they are part of your check engine light system.

The original computers spit out diagnostic codes that described what is wrong with your car. The next generation OBD computers are rumored to relay information back to the manufacturer so they can send you friendly reminders that your car needs servicing to assist in the marketing efforts of their dealerships. If this information can be sent to the manufacturer, it could just as easily be sent to the federal government as your car becomes another part of Big Brother in order to rob you from more of your money.

This is one route the federal government may take as it looks for new ways to tax the American people.