The Judiciary Committee of the Michigan House of Representatives is expected this week to consider repealing the state’s Driver Responsibility Act (DRA). Since 2004, Michigan has used this law to impose a tax of $300 to $2000 on certain driving offenses, plus an annual tax of $100 to $500 a year for anyone with more than seven points on his license. State Representative Bettie Cook Scott (D-Detroit) introduced a bill that would repeal the this law by the end of the year. “The DRA is not a law to promote justice and safety on the roads,” Scott testified in an earlier hearing on her bill. “It’s a law that generates money… If the industrial and manufacturing revenues to the state have dropped, the state should not shift the loss of revenue on to its lowest wage earners. It must focus on attracting and creating new business that can create revenue.”

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Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell (D) has not given up on his dream of adding toll booths on Interstate 80, a freeway that serves as a vital commercial link between New York and Chicago. On October 30, state officials filed an official memorandum to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reopening the application for permission to toll the 311 mile route in order to help balance the state’s budget. “Without tolls on I-80, state lawmakers and the administration would have to plug a $473 million gap in next year’s budget, and that gap will steadily widen,” Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chief Executive Joe Brimmeier said in a statement.

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The Wall Street Journal rips the veil off of General Motor’s true identity, revealing Government Motors in all its ignominious glory [sic]. The piece lists numerous examples of political interference with the automaker’s business, each worse than the one before. “Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota persuaded GM to rescind a closure order for a large dealership in Bloomington, Minn. In Tucson, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords did the same for Don Mackey, owner of a longstanding Cadillac dealership with 80 employees. Rep. Giffords argues it made sense, even for GM, to keep the Mackey dealership, which sold 750 cars last year. ‘All I did was to help get GM to focus on his case,’ she says.” So that’s alright then? In America, politicians own you! “Lawmakers say it’s their obligation to guard the government’s investments, ensure that bailed-out firms are working in the country’s interests and protect their constituents.” Swallow blood pressure meds, continue . . .

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Despite the billions in federal and state taxpayer dollars poured into mass transit programs, only 6,908,323 working Americans take advantage of the subsidized service, according to US Census Bureau data released yesterday. The agency’s American Community Survey, a questionnaire mailed to three million households, found that 121,248,284 workers over the age of 16 regularly commuted to work by personal automobile or carpool last year. Despite the comparatively small number served by buses, subways and rail, the Obama Administration has made expanding mass transit a top priority. “President Obama’s vision of robust, high-speed rail service offers Americans the kind of travel options that throughout our history have contributed to economic growth and enhanced quality of life,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in April. “We simply can’t build the economy of the future on the transportation networks of the past.”

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Officials are looking to convince residents in the Washington, DC metropolitan region that converting even local streets into toll roads would be good for them. The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board last Wednesday voted to seek federal gas tax funds to bankroll a $400,000 study on how best to sell the public on a controversial per-mile tax proposal that would raise up to $4.8 billion in new revenue.

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London, England Mayor Boris Johnson is retreating from his campaign pledge to end the city’s “punishment of motorists.” Johnson’s predecessor, Ken Livingstone, lost his re-election in large measure because Johnson pledged to scale back the £8 (US $13) fee imposed on motorists entering the downtown area. Johnson announced Friday that he will boost the tax to £10 (US $16.40) to shore up Transport for London’s mass transit budget. “The proposed increase in the charge will ensure that the system remains effective in controlling traffic levels in central London, and the revenue will also help us fund the vital improvements to London’s transport network that all Londoners want to see,” Johnson said in a statement.

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A recently released study concludes that Pennsylvania’s plan to toll Interstate 80 would burden taxpayers and potentially cost thousands of jobs. Grove City College economics Professor Tracy C. Miller’s analysis extended beyond the simple issue of how much money such tolling would raise for government coffers and, instead, attempted to quantify the effect of increased transportation costs on local businesses and residents. I-80 runs 311 miles across the state, serving as a vital commercial link between New York and Chicago. Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell (D) has been promoting the tolling effort in the hopes of generating $405 million in new revenue. Rendell and others refer to the toll as a “user fee,” but Miller disagreed with this characterization. “It is better understood as a tax or tariff, since much of the revenue will be used for purposes other than maintaining and improving Interstate 80 and since vehicles that use Interstate 80 already pay for using it via fuel taxes and other taxes,” Miller wrote.

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Enterprise Rent-A-Car CEO  must have some German politician in him somewhere (not literally, of course). Speaking with Bloomberg, Andrew Taylor’s message comes through loud and clear: Ve must have order! How can you dumkopfs expect our nationalized manufacturers to build cars that save the planet without high gas prices! And so the reporter asks the obvious question (it’s what reporters do best): should we raise the gas tax? Check out Taylor’s eyebrow work at 1:23, and his subsequent journey into the bowels of Wiggles World. The CEO didn’t see that one coming? It gets better. When asked if American cars are any good (2:18), Taylor lauds Ford, Chrysler and “even” GM. With friends like that . . .  Or is it a good thing that Enterprise fancies itself Detroit’s “petri dish,” looking to put the Volt into immediate rental service? We report, you deride.

A UK government group has just released a proposal that would impose a per-mile tax on motorists to rescue the planet from an imagined catastrophe. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), a body established by the UK Parliament to advise the government on environmental issues, has set a target of a two-percent annual reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. CO2 is a naturally occurring gas that is essential to human life. The committee believes it can reach its goal by imposing massive new taxes on drivers that will reduce demand for driving which, in turn, would reduce carbon dioxide output.

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When President Obama championed the federal stimulus bill, transportation and infrastructure projects accounted for a relatively small chunk of the total tab ($787 billion). BUT the Powers That Be hyped it hard; the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) piece of the pie was going to generate more than half of the 3.5 million jobs the Obama administration promised to create or save (don’t get picky). ProPublica’s crack investigative squad now reports that the DOT is having a little trouble shoveling the spade-ready jobs out the proverbial door. “Of the $48 billion in transportation stimulus funds, so far DOT has paid out only $3.4 billion, or 7 percent of the total,” according to Sunshine State Rep. John Mica, the top ranking Republican on the House transportation committee. DOT spokeswoman Jill Zuckman had an answer for that one. “The amount of money spent on highways isn’t as important as the amount of money that’s been approved, which has reached $19.4 billion.” Do people really think like that? Holy shit. It gets worse . . .

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