USURPER floats plan to tax cars by the mile

It's been suggested many times before, and is more relevant recently with the appearance of more and more alternate vehicle fuels. There is nothing wrong with a tax per mile for road use and thus road maintenance, as long as all the current taxes on fuels which are supposed to pay for road maintenance are eliminated.

Current taxes will not be eliminated. And the new tax system will be used for greater control and/or monitoring of people's movements. It will also be useful as the CO2/global warming scammers gain more ground. It will be sold on the pretense that roads are crumbling and today's higher mpg cars don't result in enough tax revenue. It will be sold under the climate change scam as well.

They have already been using creative math for that narrative. It will continue as the neglected infrastructure decays further and more road funds are diverted to other purposes. The poor quality work by politically connected contractors will not be discussed. The damage done by heavy trucks will also not be discussed. We will be told how the average motorist has to pay more, "the true cost of driving", even though the average motorist already pays far more than the wear-tear his use causes.

Never mind that for all the money squandered on wars and empire and bailouts the entire interstate system could be brand new and probably doubled in lane miles.

This was banied about a year or so ago. Let 'em try. Hope he tries to implement this before his defeat next November.

With this spendthrift, that is NOT going to happen. He needs to fund his healthcare plan.

We already HAVE a Per Mile tax: it's called the Federal Gas Tax. The more you drive, the more you pay.

But, then again, this guy LOVES taxes.

That worked when everyone used gas or diesel. Now with electric, home-brew bio-diesel and the like, some people are using the roads without paying the taxes that are supposed to maintain them.

I am listening to my favorite radio talk show.A guy told the talk show host that overnight the price of gas at an Exxon gas station in his area dropped from $3.79 to $3.59 a gallon.What it is, the Exxon gas station is trying to compete with a Kroger store across the street. cuhulin

First, those make up a trivial amount of road users.

Second, the revenuers do visit the people making their bio-fuels, well at least they do in Illinois.

Third, Making home brew bio fuels takes time and effort that is for someone smart enough to make their own bio fuel is generally worth more than the taxes and fuel. So they have to like to do it. When these people number more than one out of every million or so road users it might be a problem worth addressing.

Fourth, electrics require a special charging circuit. Easy enough to meter that. Could someone by-pass it or charge really slow with a 120V

15A outlet, sure can. They could do the same with their electric service right now. Few do.

There is simply no reason to track us. One could make the argument for commerical trucking due to the road damage but that too could be addressed by other means, probably by using data that is already logged.

All of the cars and trucks I see sitting on the parking lots around here and the vehicles on the roads and highways and Interstates, I haven't seen one yet that runs on solar power.There is more than enough crude oil and natural gas to last us hundreds of years. cuhulin

Trivial for now, but growing fairly rapidly.

Fortunately, some of us are smart enough not to live there.

This much is true, and those doing DIY bio fuels are likely doing so at a final cost per mile greater than pump fuel.

Huh? A 240V outlet is anything but special and anyone with 1/4 of a clue or a buddy with 1/4 of a clue can readily install one.

That is another place people get confused, efficiency vs. economy. MPG is only a measure of economy, not efficiency. A vehicle with a higher MPG may actually be less efficient than one with a lower MPG.

Have a look in alt.autos.toyota for the answer.

Short: you calculate avg fuel economy, and then weight it so more fuel efficient vehicles get the per mile tax.

[snip]

Whatever they develop for bicycles I'd be more than happy to put on my car.

So levy a special tax on alternative-fuel vehicles.

That's OK. All my cars get ~30 MPG average, I've been driving fuel-efficient cars ALL my life since I started driving, and I don't want to pay their foolish tax.

The worst car I've ever owned got 27MPG average.

Which considering the overall picture is from zero to zero.

Many states are trying to.

Exactly, you have to value your own labor at a very low rate or zero.

Special in that many if not most homes do not have one. Special in the amount of current required. Anyone who hasn't put one in for a wood shop, welding, or wants to park their car in the kitchen or laundry room... is going to have to have a circuit put in.

As to my original point, Anyone with a 1/4 of a clue can by-pass the electric meter too.

Yes, and while efficiency has increased a lot over the last few decades, economy hasn't really got all that much better.

The MGB isn't very efficient but it's remarkably economical.

--scott

Once I got enough Delco in mine, it was pretty reliable too.

Didn't appreciate Lucas, the Prince of Darkness?

(It's a joke! All you Brit fanciers back down...)