Minnesota looks at deploying 'mileage tax'

Three, count ’em three, stories on the Tatler today about government bureaucracies engaging in massive mission creep. This one is about the MN Dept of Transportation, which is looking for a way to let Big Brother ride shotgun in your car.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is looking for 500 people to test technology that could someday be used to collect a mileage-based user fee.

Mn/DOT anticipates a fee on road usage might someday be necessary as more fuel efficient and hybrid cars are on the road, decreasing revenue from the gas tax.

Well we just can’t let improvements in efficiency in the private sector have a negative impact on the government’s bottom line, can we? It all makes one wonder if the big “green energy” push is really just a ruse to keep on increasing government power.

Ok, that was rhetorical. It’s obvious that the green energy push is precisely about increasing government power.

Again: Fire the head of the agency that’s proposing this, in this case MN DOT Commissioner Thomas K. Sorel, slash their budget by 20 percent. Rinse. Repeat until they get the message.