Taxing mileage hurts poor the most

Barnett Sturm, Las Vegas

Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013 | 2:02 a.m.

Columnist Tom Keane’s proposal to put tracking devices in automobiles to tax mileage is a further attack on the poor and middle class; it undermines energy independence, clean air goals and destroys privacy.

Taxing mileage means an individual of limited means who owns a compact car and has to commute a long distance to work, or a senior citizen who needs to travel for medical services, would be taxed at the same rate as a wealthy suburbanite driving an SUV.

As for privacy laws, those could easily be overturned by a judge.

This proposed plan is a direct tax on the mobility of Americans that will not affect the wealthy but will constrain everyone else and further erode any sense of privacy.