Two reasons why we shouldn't be too optimistic about the greening of American transportation:
- We'll get as many "gray" jobs as green jobs from the stimulus.
- Our transportation secretary appears to have no idea what he's talking about.
First, green jobs: They're supposed to account for 40% of jobs created by the stimulus, but could end up being much less.
And second, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood came out with a proposal yesterday to levy a tax based on the number of miles a person travels. It's a terrible idea for three reasons:
- It's a logistical nightmare. A vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax would require installing a GPS chip in all of America's 250 million passenger vehicles. Good luck.
- It would be very expensive. See point 1.
- It gets the incentives all wrong. Gas-guzzlers would be charged the same amount as hybrids. A gas tax would be far more effective.
Well, guess someone besides me realized how bad this plan was, because this afternoon a transportation department spokeswoman flat-out denied any plans to impose a VMT tax.
But the question remains: When, if ever, will we see a higher gas tax?