In a swift close-minded stroke, the Obama administration slapped down a suggestion from the incoming Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, that he was studying a tax on vehicle miles traveled as an alternative to the gas tax.
After an interview where the incoming Transportation Secretary said “What I see this administration doing is this — thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America,” the President’s spokesperson immediately squashed the idea. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “I can weigh in on it and say that it is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration.”
Whoa! What about an open exploration of ideas? What about a look at alternatives to the failed way we are now funding the Interstate Highway System? What about the swelling support of state officials who have studied these programs? What about the nine out of ten Oregon residents who gave the taxation system the thumbs up after testing the system? What about the 21st Century Transportation Committee recommendation only a few months ago?
There might be something to this tax on vehicle miles as an alternative. Shouldn’t it at least be studied as a possible alternative to pumping $8 billion into the underperforming gasoline tax funding our highways? To be honest, until LaHood got the big “no” from Obama, I wasn’t really aware of these studies. Now, after a quick scan through the Internet and a reading of several articles, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
Of course there is the normal “Big Government Boogieman” problem, but after the $878 billion infusion, government takeovers of banks, ubiquitous credit cards, internationally-linked intelligence and police databases, airport scanners that see through our underwear and EZpass electronic transponders, what do we have left to hide?
This kind of negative reaction to “out-of-the-box” thinking seems like a repeat of the Catholic Church trying Galileo for heresy before they even studied his ideas. At the least, the public lashing of the new Transportation Secretary wasn’t a good start for exploring new ideas, open government or the vaunted “Yes we can” attitude.
When “No you can’t” are the first words out of the White House spokesperson’s mouth, the commitment to new ideas seems a might tarnished.
To be sure, the concept of a tax on vehicle miles is not going to go away, no matter what Obama and his minions say. The tax on vehicle miles is a concept that offers an alternative to today’s failing system. It provides a system of charging drivers for use of the nation’s highway systems regardless of how they power their cars and trucks.
It can allow for higher highway charges during rush hour that might encourage greater use of mass transit or at least a shift in driving habits to lessen traffic jams. It may prove to be a far fairer tax.
Transportation Secretary LaHood, governors, state highway committees and citizens deserve more than a knee-jerk kick in the teeth when they suggest ways to change the failing status quo.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
