NEW STRATEGY: Every Road A Toll Road. “Despite the privacy issues, DC officials insist that tolling is necessary for making up for the shortfall in gasoline tax revenues. The proposed mileage tax would solve this problem by increasing motorist taxation levels by a factor of ten. The additional revenue would be diverted to spending on buses and rail service. . . . ‘Vehicles would be fitted with a GPS transponder device similar to an E-ZPass, perhaps as part of the registration process,’ Orr and Rivlin explained. ‘This device would record the type of vehicle, the distance traveled, and the time and location of travel.'”

So they tell you to drive less. You comply. Then it’s a “revenue crisis” because they’re bringing in less in gas taxes. So they respond by raising taxes, and making you install a device that lets them track wherever you drive. Yeah, that’ll fly. How about, I don’t know, tar and feathers instead?

UPDATE: A reader emails: “The more incompetent they become, the more power they demand.” Indeed.