Hope and Fail

LaHood’s mileage tax idea shot down … by Transportation Department

The Department of Transportation quickly shot down a suggestion that the Obama administration would explore taxing motorists for how many miles they drive. The idea came from … Ray LaHood — the Secretary of Transportation.

From Fox News and the Associated Press:

President Obama’s transportation department slapped down a suggestion by its own secretary Friday that the government tax motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn.

Secretary Ray LaHood floated the idea in an interview with The Associated Press.

… Asked about the claim, transportation department spokeswoman Lori Irving immediately shot it down.

“The policy of taxing motorists based on how many miles they have traveled is not and will not be Obama administration policy,” she said.

LaHood said earlier in the day that he expected the administration to be “thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America.” From the AP:

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn—an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation’s transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled,” the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said.

How often is it that a cabinet secretary is quickly shot down by his own department?