With the Biden administration’s unprecedented levels of spending just getting started, new ways to raise tax revenue to the government are beginning to be floated. We’ve already seen the proposition of raising some of the top marginal tax rates, increasing the corporate tax rate, and eliminating deductions as part of a broader “infrastructure” bill, which is really just a nearly $5 trillion slush fund of liberal wants.

In an attempt to further pay for their desired monstrosity, Biden’s Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, has a tax idea that isn’t going to go over well. Namely, he thinks that a mileage tax, which would tax you for every mile you drive on a public road, shows a lot of “promise.”

Please try to do this. It'll be a Democrat bloodbath in 2022. https://t.co/h5MnawPFTf

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) March 26, 2021

I can’t think of a broader, more regressive tax than a mileage tax. It’s the working class that does the lion’s share of driving on our roads, mainly because they don’t have jobs that allow them to work remotely. This would also kill truck drivers, which would mean the prices of consumer goods would skyrocket. Further, the bureaucratic processes that would need to be created in order to keep track of everyone’s mileage usage are mind-boggling to think about. In short, how exactly does this idea show any promise at all?

On the other hand, as I noted above, this would lead to a bloodbath in 2022. There is no way most Americans are going to be happy about getting a new tax bill that punishes them for attempting to be productive. And we all know that this will simply be stacked on top of the existing gas tax. Democrats never simplify the tax structure, they only stack more and more on top of it.

The surest way to ensure Republicans take back the House and Senate in a year and a half is for Biden to push this past the theoretical stage. But arrogance is a funny thing, and the Democrats are very emboldened right now, thus all the talk of blowing up the filibuster. They wouldn’t need to do that to pass a mileage tax, though, as it can be done through reconciliation.

I’m skeptical that happens, but we’ll see if they are dumb enough to try.