Converter Box Rebate

Will We Soon Be Paying Taxes On Every Mile We Drive, Too?

When Republicans get together they talk a lot about how much Democrats love to find new and novel ways to raise taxes. This talk could almost risk becoming a worn-out cliché, except that when it comes to new ways to tax Americans, Democrats just can’t help themselves.

Case in point: as if the money collected from income taxes, corporate taxes, excise taxes, death taxes, gas taxes and the like were not enough, the White House is now floating a new tax trial balloon: taxing automobiles on a per-mile-driven basis. What's that all about, you ask? It means that, if the White House and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad have their way – you would be taxed when you buy your car, pay taxes for the gas you put in your car and then be taxed on every mile driven, while using your car. In other words, the government would literally get you coming and going.

The White House, of course, says it does not support such a tax, nor would it even support the proposal it has proposed.

“This was an early working draft proposal that was never formally circulated within the administration,” a White House spokeswoman said.

Perhaps this lack of, uh, formality (similar to informally meeting a lobbyist at a nearby Caribou Coffee to skirt those pesky, and formal, openness and transparency rules) is because the White House knows the public is not eager for any new taxes, especially, at a time when gas costs $4 per gallon, or for anything else from the government that would make automobile travel more expensive. No doubt the White House and Democrats believe that while the petulant children they see as today’s taxpayers do not want to take this “medicine,” it is in their best interest. But for the public to swallow this, it will require a full court press – something the draft proposal would make provisions and appropriations for.

The $300 million study the draft proposal calls for would seek to, and I'm quoting now from the draft itself, “increase public awareness regarding the need for an alternative funding source for surface transportation programs and provide information on possible approaches.”

Translation from Legislation-Speak: “Open wide for propaganda telling you why you should pay a new tax and why you will be grateful for paying it.” This propaganda has, of course, been paid for by you.

TV Converter Box rebate from Feds - Outer Rim Territories

TV Converter Box rebate from Feds

So, a little over a year from now we won't be able to watch TV using an antenna and standard analog TV without a converter box. Thankfully for those of us without cable or satellite, the feds hear our pain and are subsidizing the transition with a rebate on the necessary converter boxes. They will be about $60 but the feds are offering a $40 rebate. Even though they'll make our TVs more complicated to use, the reception via digital using an antenna is typically all-or-nothing, meaning no fuzzy images. Either it will be clear or completely unwatchable and usually the former. So go to h ttp://www.dtv2009.org/ and submit for your rebate. PC World - CES Preview: TV Converter Boxes Offer Escape From Analog TV Digital TV Revolution Starts Now The coupon program is administered by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and funded by $1.5 billion appropriated by Congress. The intent of the program is to subsidize the nation's transition to digital television by allowing consumers to continue receiving free over-the-air television. The program is open to all American households, and was established in the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. So how does it work? You can apply for up to two $40 coupons per household, either by visiting the official site launched on January 1, http://www.dtv2009.gov/ , or calling 888-DTV-2009. Printed applications will also be available at post offices and at public libraries, in English, Spanish, and other languages. Starting February 18, 2008, the government will send coupons by U.S. mail in the form of a gift card that consumers can use at electronics retailers that sell the digital-to-analog converter boxes. You'll have approximately three months to redeem the coupon. So far, only Digital Stream, LG Electronics, and Philips have converter boxes that are approved by the NTIA, and only LG and Philips have announced actual products. The boxes are expected to cost between $59 and $69 dollars.

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