Any truth to this?

[Austin50mpg]

Originally Posted by MikeSF

Is there any truth? Sure there's some truth in it. The truth is lawmakers are always finding ways to tax people. Surprised there's not a green tax for those who use solar panels because that's money the state isn't getting! Hell the fact that you are taxed for owning a house seems like we're still in the feudal days and have to pay a tribute to our king for the right to be on his lands.

Fact is lawmakers (and I'm being very vague with this term) often get too complacent with taxes as a solid source of income. I realize the government needs to tax in order to pay for services etc, however instead of looking to taxes they should have more of an overhaul in how they do business in the first place. (political rant here about corruption and spending goes here, and I'll leave it at that).

I think in a Oregon they experimented in a per-mile tax instead, of per-gallon tax. If anything I think the US automakers had more of a push with that one, since it'd make driving SUVs slightly cheaper. However the other side of the coin, is when the average fuel economy dropped like a rock due to all the SUVs I didn't exactly hear the lawmakers thinking about lowering fuel tax, or praising the increase in revenue. Just tax tax tax, a reason why many companies are leaving San Francisco too.

Bottom line is smaller more fuel efficient cars tend to do a lot less damage to the roads that large trucks/suvs as a result, they shouldn't need as much maintenance from them driving on it.

[jayman]

Originally Posted by patsparks

Heavy trucks, not the toys boys who need to establish their manhood drive but real trucks do the lions share of harm to roads and should contribute the lions share of road maintenance money.

That's a good point, but many city streets here already prohibit that sort of traffic. Everything else being equal, the large suv or pickup will create more road damage than a Honda Civic or Toyota Prius

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of talk about a "hybrid tax" has to do with winning over suv and pickup owners/voters who are getting pissed off with the high fuel prices

[stumpy_c]

Heh...

Yeah, cause ya know, God forbid we stop handing out so much in welfare (or do anything else that makes any sort of sense).