inco Report post Posted February 9, 2014 It's amazing how jaded we have become when expecting governments to do the right thing. They have taught us well. 2 dalesky and acdii reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
acdii Report post Posted February 9, 2014 (edited) we are from the government, we are here to help you..... [doctor who]RUN!!!! [/doctor who] Edited February 9, 2014 by acdii Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MaineFusion Report post Posted February 24, 2014 Since the concept behind gas tax is to roughly a certain amount of revenue per mile driven, maybe the best thing to do would be to peg gas taxes to the fuel economy standards. In turn they could also do away with tax credits for hybrids and EVs because the savings from fuel taxes would offset the loss of those tax credits. We can't expect fuel tax rate to remain the same per gallon if we are getting way more miles out of a gallon of fuel. This would also act as a tax penalty for those who insist on driving gas guzzling vehicles. 2 hybridbear and acdii reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Texasota Report post Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) Since the concept behind gas tax is to roughly a certain amount of revenue per mile driven, maybe the best thing to do would be to peg gas taxes to the fuel economy standards.An interesting idea but how do you implement it? Something the motorist enters at the gas pump on an honor system or a technology that brings us back to a "big brother" system? Edited February 25, 2014 by Texasota Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MaineFusion Report post Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) An interesting idea but how do you implement it? Something the motorist enters at the gas pump on an honor system or a technology that brings us back to a "big brother" system?You're thinking too complicated. States could simply index their fuel tax rate to the Federal government's CAFE standard. This would be very similar to how cost of living adjustments can be indexed to consumer price index. Indexing fuel taxes to CAFE standards would help keep the fuel taxes raised more in line with the actual miles driven, which is what causes the wear and tear on our roads and bridges. This also has the merit of having a built in tax incentive to drive more fuel efficient vehicles and making gas guzzlers progressively more expensive to drive over time. Edited February 25, 2014 by MaineFusion 2 Ted Swing and hybridbear reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Texasota Report post Posted February 25, 2014 You're thinking too complicated. States could simply index their fuel tax rate to the Federal government's CAFE standard. I did not understand your proposal. I incorrectly jumped to the conclusion that your idea was that a vehicle with poor MPG (such as a pickup truck) would pay a higher tax rate as compared to a hybrid that has good MPG. I think I jumped to that conclusion because the CAFE standards have different requirements based on vehicle class. But I think I am following now - your proposal simply indexes (increases) the gas tax rate with each increment in MPG requirements as defined by the CAFE standard? The goal being that this technique results in the same amount of tax being collected as the vehicles become more efficent and use less fuel. If I have it correct now, then it seems like a workable approach to me as long as the federal goverment does not "mandate" that the states use that technique to collect their state fuel taxes. 1 MaineFusion reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MaineFusion Report post Posted February 25, 2014 I did not understand your proposal. I incorrectly jumped to the conclusion that your idea was that a vehicle with poor MPG (such as a pickup truck) would pay a higher tax rate as compared to a hybrid that has good MPG. I think I jumped to that conclusion because the CAFE standards have different requirements based on vehicle class. But I think I am following now - your proposal simply indexes (increases) the gas tax rate with each increment in MPG requirements as defined by the CAFE standard? The goal being that this technique results in the same amount of tax being collected as the vehicles become more efficent and use less fuel. If I have it correct now, then it seems like a workable approach to me as long as the federal goverment does not "mandate" that the states use that technique to collect their state fuel taxes.Yes this is exactly what I'm proposing. It is probably the simplest way possible to keep the amount of road taxes coming in stable as vehicles become more efficient. 1 hybridbear reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
acdii Report post Posted February 25, 2014 How would it be implemented then, at the pump? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites