If you live in Minnesota Please do not re-elect this JERK OK?

I have to move far from my job because I can’t afford to live close because if Real Estate prices are too high so I live 2 hours out of the city

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/119008/group/home/

Late last week in Washington, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar touted spending half a trillion dollars to solve the nation’s transportation woes.

He followed that up on Monday with a news release promising that motorists in Northeastern Minnesota “will see record levels of road construction this summer,” thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Investments in infrastructure sound great. No one needs to look further than the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis to realize our nation’s highways, bridges, rail lines and other transportation systems have been overlooked for too long.

But a nagging question persists: Where will the money come from?

We certainly hope we

didn’t hear part of the answer yesterday when news broke that Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wanted to immediately enact a mileage-based tax on cars and trucks.

Whether enacted immediately or in the future, a new tax now — or anytime, really, no matter what the economy is like — would be about as welcome as hitting one of those tire-popping potholes along Glenwood Street.

Taxing Americans based on the miles they drive would require a frightening amount of government intrusion. Vehicles would need to be equipped with GPS technology that could determine how many miles a car has been driven and whether the miles were logged on interstate highways or on secondary roads. Not trying to sound big-brother paranoid, but

wouldn’t such technology also allow vehicles to be tracked — with the potential for a massive invasion of privacy?

Oberstar spokesman Jim Berard argued that “a vehicle miles-traveled tax is a logical complement, and perhaps a future replacement, for fuel taxes.” But once both taxes are in place, does anyone seriously believe one would be eliminated in favor of the other? Especially with a “strong need [for government] to find revenue,” as Berard stated?

Hard-working commuters getting to and from work would be hit hard by a mileage-based tax. Rural areas and smaller towns, including Duluth and Oberstar’s native Chisholm, also would bear the brunt. Convenient public transportation isn’t available in those places like it is in Washington or elsewhere residents can hop a subway to get around — or where a congressman can call for a driver to take him where he needs to go.

Infrastructure investment is needed. No denying that. But we don’t need to spend so much that new taxes have to be created to pay for it all. The investment doesn’t have to result in record levels of road construction. And it doesn’t have to come at a cost of half a trillion dollars.

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