Nineteen Republican senators voted to approve the Biden regime’s infrastructure bill on Tuesday that contains a plan to tax American drivers per mile to pay for the administration’s $1.2 trillion worth of social and economic justice initiatives. Establishment Republicans have long claimed they want to avoid divisive social issues and focus on tax cuts, but could not even deliver on that issue this week when given the opportunity.
Senators Mitch McConnell (KY), Roy Blunt (MO), Richard Burr (NC), Bill Cassidy (LA), Susan Collins (ME), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Kevin Cramer (ND), Mike Crapo (ID), Deb Fischer Lindsey Graham (SC), Chuck Grassley (IA), John Hoeven (ND), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Rob Portman (OH), James Risch (ID), and Mitt Romney (UT) all voted for Biden’s infrastructure package.
As The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday, Biden’s bloated infrastructure bill allocates “$125 million toward exploring the possibility of a federal vehicle miles traveled tax (VMT) by funding the launch of federal, state and local VMT pilot programs.” Tax payments to the federal government on mileage would be calculated quarterly.
As National File reported in March, Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg floated the idea of a mileage tax during an NBC interview, receiving backlash from U.S. motorists:
Biden regime Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has indicated that he may push for a mileage tax on Americans that will require them to pay the government for traveling too much. The move would help pay for Biden’s $3 trillion infrastructure bill, and “shows a lot of promise” according to Buttigieg.
When asked by an NBC reporter if he supported a mileage tax, Buttigieg said, “I think that shows a lot of promise. If we believe in that so-called user-pays principle, the idea that part of how we pay for roads is you pay based on how much you drive.”
The gas tax used to be the obvious way to do it; it’s not anymore,” Buttigieg added. “So, a so-called vehicle miles traveled tax or a mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be the way to do it.”
The Biden regime and corporate media have not given much attention to the $125 million mileage tax plan, presumably due to such a tax’s overwhelming unpopularity among U.S. citizens.