rvanengen |
10-29-2007 08:33 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by brucepick
(Post 78778)
I have to agree, at last partially. Govt will take the money and spend as we/they decide, never spending as originally promised. Old story.
And AMERICAN people do hate taxes. My EU-raised dad, on the other hand, has always said that he wishes he had to pay LOTS of taxes. Because that would mean he was raking it in!
In an idealized scenario we wouldn't subsidize the oil companies, and they'd have to charge the real cost for their products. Govt. would bill them for mideast military operations, or we wouldn't do those ops. Etc. etc. That would force the fuel prices up to their real level and people would decide to pay up or use less fuel.
But in the real world, that's not going to happen. Adding the tax to the fuel sold is a workable substitute. Forces consumers to rethink their decisions. Doesn't function EXACTLY the same as the idealized scenario but works pretty good in EU. Loads of diesel and high-mpg things on the roads there - and it's not just because of the tiny roads.
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Uhh...just because there isn't the political backbone to do the RIGHT thing, doesn't mean that doing the easy-thing (tax the little guy) is the *almost* RIGHT thing. IMO, taxing the group least able to resist the imposition of taxes is pretty much the definition of the most WRONG thing. Guess they are the same people that think it would be ok to steal lunch money from the geeks/nerds instead of going after the football team's money.;) So...sounds like a rehash of the old "ends justifies the means" argument...and look where that got a lot of people in Europe.:eek:
And, no disrespect intended to your father, but just because you pay more in taxes, doesn't mean you take more home at the end of the day!! Sometimes, yes... (shrug). ;)
I would counter that the MUCH shorter distances between destinations, smaller roads, lower speed limits, history (WWI, WWII, etc), lack of urban sprawl for many more years, rampant lawsuits, differing safety standards, and a few other unnamed factors (consumer perception, marketing, etc) have lead to the smaller more FE vehicles that are abundant in the EU.
The lack of diesels, though, I think we can lay mostly at the feet of California and the New England states that have followed their completely misguided approach to emissions in the last several years.
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