Did you hear the head of the Motor Vehicle Administration wants to tax cars by the mile? He claims it would replace the gas tax. Look, moron…did you fail math? They’d be equal because you buy gas by the gallon which is consumed by the mile!
Ok, let’s all sing now: “Big Brother, here we come! Way back where we started from! Rake me over that golden grate (sic), Big Brother here we come!” - Jinx
I heard about this on the radio. It sounds like the latest bright idea from the new head of the DMV. Everyone who called into the show had a very negative feel about the idea. I don’t think it’s going to happen.
And the factual question here is…?
An SUV uses a lot more gas to travel the same number of miles.
The one I always used to ask myself was “How many more times do I gotta look at this crap before I ban him?”
Unfortunately, I never came up with an answer.
Math is no use without logic. The two taxes would not be equal, because not all vehicles consume gas at the same rate per mile travelled. Relative to the existing petrol tax, a milage tax would tend to favour larger vehicles (including buses, trucks, etc) and to bear more heavily on smaller, lighter vehicles. and of course it would benefit the users of petrol-driven engines which don’t power road vehicles - lawnmowers, power boats, etc.
The point is that California is seeing their revenue from the gas tax decrease steadily as people buy more fuel efficient vehicles. There just aren’t enough Hummers to make up for all those Prius drivers. They can do the math, and the revenue doesn’t add up to enough to maintain the roads so they have to raise more tax somewhere. I’m not saying it’s a good idea, just saying that they know their math quite well when it comes to padding the coffers.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/19/sections/news/news/article_208035
I thought that the point was to try and reduce urban sprawl. I’m not sure that’s the way to do it, but that would be part of the GD thread.
D’oh, that would be suburban, not urban, sprawl.
Yes, it’s a windfall to those who drive gas-guzzling behemoths. To those who commute long distances in small cars, the opposite.