CNBC reported that transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg floated a mileage tax for infrastructure plans under the Biden administration.  It seems par for the course.  Any ideas to reach farther into Americans' pockets are on the table.

The White House is expected to announce a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal.  Apparently, the current funding for state and national departments of transportation isn't enough to pay for the nation's roads.  No, that can be done only with the addition of another two to three trillion dollars.  Bank managers Biden and Harris are set to spend money that will never exist except in inflation.

The more considerable concern is that the proposal feels like yet another in a series of boondoggles.  When Democrats won the runoff Senate seats in Georgia on January 5, Americans knew they were in for a rough stretch — at least for taxpaying, freedom-loving Americans.  Like the lie-counter the legacy media trotted out every time they had an urge to obfuscate Trump's messaging, perhaps a boondoggle scale is in order for Biden and his handlers.

Alas, the list of Biden's follies is already well documented.  A web browser search for the term "Biden's follies" returns five hits sharing the phrase in their title.  Add to that a botched press conference cut short, internet rumors of green-screen photo-ops, and Vice President Harris's growing presence in official White House photos, and it's hard to feel confident in the administration on any level. 

The possibility that Biden will not see out his first term as president is becoming more of a likelihood each day.  Numerous pundits on various cable news channels speculated on this outcome from even before Delaware's finest took the oath of office.  Regardless of how accurate their early predictions were, it leaves the country in a position not seen since the Nixon-Agnew-Ford tumult of the early 1970s.  Almost fifty years later, perhaps Americans are witnessing another horse race after the election.  A series of bizarre events could elevate other elected officials into positions they were never elected to represent.

Using that lens, should Harris become president, the administration would be expected to lurch even farther to the left.  Her vice president would be determined through a nomination process under the 25th Amendment, whereby the nominee would need both chambers of Congress to approve the candidate.  This is putting the cart before the horse, though.  Should that come to fruition, the frenzy will be palpable. 

In the meantime, Biden's deteriorating decision-making provides enough spectacle to fill untold columns each day.  Focusing only on the proposed mileage tax further confirms how insulated Washington elites remain from the rest of America.  Sure, it looks good on paper to tax the drivers who use the roads.  Does that mean trucking companies, gas stations, and grocery stores will bear the burden of this cross?  That seems a recipe to pass along the increased costs to consumers.  If truckers are exempted, where is the justice in that — if there is any justice to be found in taxing roadway usage for roads already paid for with tax dollars?

Some of the administration's missteps have already proven dangerous.  Taxing drivers on top of the handful of taxes all Americans pay to build and maintain the nation's highways is utterly tone-deaf.  Like most other well intentioned taxes — if any such tax exists — this proposal will have the unintended consequence of hurting more than it helps.  People struggling to make ends meet will see their dollars stretched thinner as the price of goods and services increases beyond the inflationary costs on the horizon from the newly expanded debt load.  The middle class will bear the lion's share of the new tax in their continued role as taxable livestock to keep a floundering government afloat. 

For those who voted for Biden and Harris, buyer's remorse is likely growing into confusion or resentment.  Nearly a month ago, the Washington Times published an opinion piece outlining the lack of follow-through on the administration's campaign promises.  At that time, gas prices across the country reached an eighteen-month high.  Since then, prices have risen even farther.  Mileage taxes won't do anything to reverse this trend.

For anyone who thought he was buying up by voting for Biden, look out.  Mileage may vary with this administration.

Image: Snappygoat.