Any truth to this?

[Austin50mpg]

I have a source who is a major news buff. She states that with all the hybrid sells in California the State is going to raise taxes on gasoline because of the decreased revenue in gas taxes due to the high MPG hybrids.
I know it sounds like a bunch of crap, but I am concerned. Things that start in CA usually spread eastward across the USA.

Anyone heard of this?

[dogfriend]

Sounds like a bunch of crap.

I googled "Decreased Gas Tax California" and found this article:

Gas prices drive up sales tax revenue in state

[qbee42]

I haven't heard anything about it, but it's not a bunch of crap. Think about what you are saying and the implications:

1) For a given amount of traffic, road construction and maintenance require a fixed amount of money.

2) The money for road construction and maintenance mostly comes from fuel taxes.

3) If you maintain the same amount of traffic with less fuel, the tax rate on that fuel must be increased to maintain the same money for repairs and construction, or another revenue stream must be developed to make up for the reduction in fuel tax revenue.

4) In this scenario, the state is not increasing taxes, but raising the tax rate. The same dollar amount of taxes are collected either way.

Electric vehicles bypass the tax system entirely by using untaxed fuel. This is fine now since there are so few electric vehicles, but if we all switch to them we will need some other method of paying for the roads.

Tom

[thecoook]

Yesterday Morning (Friday the 25th), I heard on a local news station a sound clip from a Florida DOT spokeswoman complaining about reduced tax revenues due to hybrids, the Prius mentioned in particular. Her most memorable words were "we appreciate the concern for the environment, but...." end of clip. I guess the Prius is just another target for our Nation's ills.

[TonyPSchaefer]

Back in the days of the negative spin against hybrids, there was a bunch of talk that cars with improved mileage will buy less gas causing a drop in tax revenue. Some people eve indicated that cars would be fitted with GPS systems and a person's total driven miles would be read like a water meter and you would be charged accordingly.

[jayman]

Just by getting all those heavy pickups and suv's off the road, and replacing them with far lighter hybrid and electric cars, the *savings* will more than make up for any loss in gas tax revenue. All those lighter vehicles are easier on roads and bridges compared to far heavier suv's and pickups

It's not like 100% of gas tax revenue is put into infrastructure anyway. Mostly it's a cash cow to fund other programs. Up here, it's typical to see only around 40% of gas tax collected applied to transport infrastructure.

The rest is an easy cash cow for other entitlement programs

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by jayman

It's not like 100% of gas tax revenue is put into infrastructure anyway. Mostly it's a cash cow to fund other programs.

+1, In Calif, they don't put all the gas tax money toward maintaining the roads like it was originally meant to do, they siphon the money off into the General Fund to pay for other stuff.

Anyway, to clarify, my comment "Sounds like a bunch of crap" was in regard to an impending raise of the gas tax rate for California. I haven't read or heard anything to corroborate a gas tax increase, but found an article that discusses California getting a windfall due to the rapid increase in gas prices.

[JimN]

Yes, taxes will have to increase as we've been spending money we don't have. Far easier to blame hybrids than reckless spending. God forbid motor fuel taxes should be exclusively spent to maintain bridges & roads.

[patsparks]

If the tax is a percentage of the retail price of petrol the government should be swimming in cash but if it is charged as cents per gallon the not just hybrids but a trend toward lower consumption vehicles will reduce revenue and spending.
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.

One wheel on a fully legally loaded truck carries up to 2 or 3 times the weight of a medium size car and does up to 50 times the damage of 1 medium car to the road surface. Overload that wheel by half a ton and the damage done is doubled. Add to that poorly maintained suspension or over inflated tyres and up goes the damage again.

If the government is providing hospitals and school and police forces and there is no way to raise this money from taxes on these things then they need other revenue streams to obtain the money, fuel tax is one of those streams.

[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.