No more gas tax?- NPR story this morning - Fuelly Forums

Click here to see important news regarding the aCar App

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 07-29-2008, 06:28 AM   #1
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_Erik's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,027
Country: United States
No more gas tax?- NPR story this morning

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93018408


For those of you who don't have the bandwidth to listen to the linked story above, since people a driving less and thus less gas taxes are being collected to fund highway repair and mass transit, the Bush administration's new idea is to do away with the gas tax and instead put an electronic device on everyone's car that records the time of day they drive, the number of miles they drive, whether or not they are carrying a passenger and uses the weight of the vehicle to calculate and collect a "transportation fee" to asses to fund highway repair and mass transit.

My take:
1. Lots more red tape with these "devices" installed in everyone's cars- and when/where do they get read? By satellite?
2. Tech ppl will find a way to cheat the system, How could an electronic device tell if you have a passenger or a backpack in your front seat?
3. It seems like an election year gimmick for some politicians to say "We'll the other guy is wanting you to pay gas taxes and I don't want you to pay any gas taxes"
4. Why not just double the gas tax?
__________________

GasSavers_Erik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2008, 07:15 AM   #2
Site Team / Moderator
 
Jay2TheRescue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 4,719
Country: United States
Location: Northern Virginia
They were talking about a similar system proposed in the UK on Top Gear last night. Even they thought it was a really bad idea. The current system is the best. If you want to pay lower gas tax drive a more efficient vehicle. Simply put. I'm sure Rusty pays more than his fair share of gas taxes, and my dad's Ford Focus pays less. It all works out in the end. People driving less means less wear & tear on the roads. If they don't have enough money its because they haven't budgeted properly.

-Jay
__________________

__________________








Jay2TheRescue is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2008, 07:20 AM   #3
Registered Member
 
theholycow's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 6,624
Country: United States
Send a message via ICQ to theholycow Send a message via AIM to theholycow Send a message via MSN to theholycow Send a message via Yahoo to theholycow
5.
__________________
This sig may return, some day.
theholycow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2008, 10:41 AM   #4
Registered Member
 
rgathright's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 189
Country: United States
We should impose this usage tax on those evil pedestrians who walk on the city streets! We could put a pedometer on everyone!

Seriously, the tax will not be imposed on car usage, to costly to implement.

Why not tax another service that these evil electric car owners are using?

How about taxing electricity even more?

Ughh... the thought of financing more immigrant work on the interstate system sickens me.
rgathright is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2008, 10:50 AM   #5
|V3|2D
 
thisisntjared's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,186
Country: United States
Send a message via AIM to thisisntjared
this is so stupid. you tax the dirty fuel sources, including ethanol from our local farms. duh.

i will be really pissed if the 2-3 ton whales on the road pay the same in taxes as i do if its based of miles. consumption is a much better meter of wear and tear than distance.
__________________
don't waste your time or time will waste you
thisisntjared is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2008, 11:43 AM   #6
Site Team
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 658
Country: United States
This is an interesting discussion in the Libertarian circles.

On one hand, Libertarians abhor taxes. On the other hand, they feel responsible for their actions. Therefore, they (at least the ones I've talked to) feel some sort of obligation to pay for the roads that they use (amongst many tangential discussions of government waste & inefficiency). In theory, we should also be responsible for undoing any damage we do to the environment (i.e. pollution from the fumes we emit) but until I see someone going around removing these from the air I don't feel like I should pay for them.

The consensus is that the system described above is actually the "fairest" way to do it, despite some problems. Those who use the road the most & hardest would have to pay the most.

Of course the problem is enforcement. Am I going to put some sort of transponder in my window so some giant computer can track my travels?

At the end of the day, the only logical thing to me is the gas tax. I would prefer that you pay $3 per gallon of gas + $1 "usage fee" so that its visible, but that does seem to be the most logical way to account for miles traveled and weight of the vehicle (since heavier vehicles "generally" get lower gas mileage).

Although I have heard a couple of "private sector" solutions described, I can't see any of them being practical (especially when monopolies are considered).

-BC
__________________
Think you are saving gas? Prove it by starting a Gas Log, then conduct a proper experiment.
bobc455 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2008, 05:31 PM   #7
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 244
Country: United States
Quote:
Originally Posted by theholycow View Post
5.
Bingo!!
__________________
cems70 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-30-2008, 03:03 AM   #8
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 68
Country: United States
no no no no no....
__________________

Rayme is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Matching EPA Type to My Car DastardlyDan Fuelly Web Support and Community News 2 10-26-2009 06:16 AM
Hydrogen or H2O Systems 1Jal1 General Fuel Topics 4 10-11-2008 01:20 AM
Why did it take me so long to find this place? Baranfin Introduce Yourself - New member Welcome 6 05-31-2008 04:17 PM
Hho? friz General Fuel Topics 5 05-21-2008 07:10 AM
An American Perspective on Driving in Canada rh77 General Discussion (Off-Topic) 28 03-24-2006 09:42 PM

» Fuelly iOS Apps
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 12:30 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.