Driver Ticketed for Using Biofuel
 

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/599471.html

One would hope other jurisdictions are taking the high road on this.

so much bs in there its hard to stand it

I'm confused after reading that. What types of people were they looking for? I didn't think there was that many RV's running on restaurant grease and soy bean to justify american tax paying dollars for a few uniformed people to look for it??

that is completely ridiculous

i think they were looking for the red non highway fuel if you know what i talking about. it is not taxed and it is a bright red color. i dont know if it is even sold in the city but it is sold for sure out in the country for farmers and there tractors. it is a lot less and it polutes more

Holy f*ck! Note to self, never move to Charlotte. I'm with Matt. That's nuts! I wonder what they would have done had he been using Used Vegetable Oil???

Ridiculous vs Fair.
 

As ridiculous and unfair as this newspaper report appears on the surface, there is more to the story. Maybe the publicity will prompt action.

Fuel taxes are(supposedly) used to finance building and maintaining both State and Federal Roads. Whether we agree with them or not is immaterial. The taxes exist and every gallon of fuel sold for use on State and Federal roads includes a substantial amount of taxes. Like hockey pointed out, agricultural and other non-highway users are allowed to buy fuel minus the taxes. With fuel prices the way they are, it's even more of a temptation for them to put this fuel in their highway vehicles.

I am in favor of some sort of exemption for self-made bio-fuel. But till this is approved and automatic, should the rest of the taxpaying public be paying the whole load while others pay nothing??

Yes, to encourage improving the environment. Besides, he was taxed. He bought Soy oil in the store. I doubt every cent of your fuel tax goes to reparing the road. Its more likely used to finance other things which I wont mention to not get this thread off topic.

I question the constitutionality of the infraction. If he doesn't buy gas or diesel how was he supposed to pay the taxes? They're taxes on fuel, not miles driven; otherwise we'd all be getting hit up for not buying 'enough' fuel. Better stop filling in your gaslogs: Big Brother is watching! Maybe you have to keep 2 sets of books. ;)

The penalty is for people who deliberately or egregiously evade taxes. Does he now have to prove his innocence? Can't they just send him a tax bill and be fair about it? Now he has to either pay an unjust fine, or pay lawyers and waste the court's time. Sheesh.

The problem with this is putting it in practice. In most cases, I've heard that you can call up the state controller and they won't have an answer for you as to how to pay it. I think in this case, the person was an easy target because they probably ran their mouth off about it, and used a commercial product. If that had used VO or made biodiesel from VO it would have been in that fuzzy area of home made fuel.

Should an 80,000 pound revenue-producing truck pay on the same scale as does a commuter in a 2,000 lb Metro?

Yes, because clearly the have the same effect on the road. In fact, the truck should pay less, because it has more wheelz! :D

We need a Karl Hess type person to resist this and make it a major issue.

So isn't the $2500 fee for registering as fuel producer? How is buying oil at Costco, walking out to his car, and pouring it in make him a fuel producer?

EXACTLY! I'm zipping it from now on -- :rolleyes:

Showed the article to the wife and she is now scared to death. Good thing is they won't mess with me around here - at least the locals for my county as well as the adjoining counties. Still after reading this article, it just makes me proud to wake up in the morning and say I'm an American. :p Seriously, when I was researching it, I watched plenty of European documentaries and they mentioned the taxes they had to pay. I just wish the guy could turn it around and charge them some sort of fee for emissions reduction or something just as stupid as them searching for the people trying to make good.

Reminds me of the tax incentives for people (businesses) to buy the gargantuan SUV's. :thumbdown:

I guess I'll be making a bumper sticker that says "My other car wastes four times the gas your car does!" instead of the "Powered by Waste Veggie Oil" I was going to have. That should get them off my back - on top of that I was going to go through Charlotte on my cross country trip I was planning soon. Detour!!! They won't be getting my tourist money or any other money for that matter!! (was planning on staying with relatives for a day)

I think that if this case goes to trial, it's going to come down to one key question as was posed on the EV list: Is soybean oil food or fuel?

If it is determined to be food - as it is labelled and sold, then fuel taxes do not apply.

If it is determined to be fuel - by reason of intended use, then the retailer failed to collect the appropriate taxes. Does that bring them in as a co-defendent? And if so, to what end is a retailer supposed to anticipate how the products they sell will be used?

What about propane? I burn it my grille, but I could just as easily convert my car to run on the stuff. Should retailers be compelled to charge fuel taxes for that as well?

It's a sticky issue which state legislatures would be wise to exempt from consideration.

I wonder if they are going to try to add a fuel tax to the electricity when plugin hybrids are hitting the roads - same thing right only they will tax by the KWH instead of the gallon.

HEY THERE FELLA where did you get that electricity from??? It smells like free electricity . . . are you running some kind of wind generating plant back in the woods out there - making tax free electricity ?? You KNOW you can't be doing that boooy!