The screaming and yelling over the "tax-by-the-mile" pilot program in the latest Communist Party spending bill is .........ahhh........silly. But "Conservatives" who don't think past the end of their nose, well, you get to expect that.
Let's review current events. Electric and semi-electric (hybrid) cars are selling reasonably well. They have a niche and that niche will grow as the electrical infrastructure gets built-out and as battery life extends beyond 200-300 miles.
Detroit (and Japan, and Europe) are under enormous Government pressure to ditch internal-combustion engines in favor of electric. You and I may agree that this is a pipe-dream; that generating electricity will pollute more, that windmills and sun-catchers are laughably weak, etc., etc.
Makes no difference. There WILL be more electric and semi-electric cars and trucks.
Now, then, class: do electric cars and trucks wear down roadways just like internal-combustion vehicles do?
Yes, indeed.
Do fuel-taxes pay for highway development and repair?
Yes, indeed.
So--since they use a lot less petroleum--electric and semi-electric will pay far less in road-building and -repairing than they should, right?
Right.
The only way to extract adequate road-use moneys from those vehicles is to charge by the mile--unless you want internal combustion engine users to pay more and more and more in gasoline taxes while your Prius-smirky neighbor does not.
Get it?
Good. Now Shut Up.
4 comments:
What a hypocrite you are telling people to shut up! Tax electric vehicles at the charging station. Do you think fossil fuel vehicles will be exempt from the per mile tax! Once you open the door forget about it. Every vehicle will have mandatory government monitoring. Charge tax when charging even more then fuel cars the grid needs it as well as roads.
Umnnnh.....huh?
Now you propose TWO taxes, yet rant about monitoring. You do know that your mileage is already available, right? Just trade in your car; it's a Government record right then and there. For that matter, if they want to, they can cadge your mileage from routine maintenance records, online. PUt down that cellphone and shut off your computer if you don't want to be monitored.....
I am not the one proposing any new taxes, you are. You are crazy if you think the gov't is going to replace the gas tax with the mileage tax, they will do both. When and how is the gov't going to collect this tax. I know people who do all their own routine maintenance on their vehicles. They can even change their own brakes. I have family members who actually have to leave their homes to make a living. They are in construction and often have to drive many miles to job sites to make a living. They can't afford a mileage tax on top of the gas tax, because there will be BOTH. How else are they going to get people to not drive gas powered vehicles if they don't tax them for both evil fossil fuel use and mileage. I guess we will be buying electric vehicles for ALL. The gas tax is simple, you buy the gas, you pay the tax, you are done. You charge your electric car at a station, you pay a tax, you are done. You charge you car at home you may need maybe a wifi connection to the utility company to charge the tax on you bill.
PS I often leave home without my cellphone.
You could elect better people and muzzle the RoadBuilders while you're at it.
You have a fine idea: tax the electricity.
Go get it done.
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