What do you think about this gas tax elimination proposal?

Sounds stupid to me.

We WANT people with high consuming, heavy weight SUV's etc to stop using them, and we WANT more people usingfuel sippers and light weight electrics. i say quaruple the gas tax to bring it in line with europe. My last tank cost $6.84 per US Gallon. i wouldn't mind paying it if it were actually used to fund renewable energy and alternative fuel projects, but it doesn't seem to be that way...

 

With Flaninacupboard here. Gas tax is the least inexpensive way and best way to encourage people to use less fuel and drive more efficient vehicles.

If the goal of the gas tax was to only pay for road maintenance, then yes - a mileage tax multiplied by either the curb or gross weight of the vehicle would be the way to go.

That said, road maintenance isn't the only affects of burning fuel - each gallon of gas or diesel contributes to air pollution which affects everyone who breathes the air, and those costs are not currently accounted for in gasoline taxes.

So yes - tax gasoline/diesel the same way, but the tax should be raised at a minimum to cover the cost of road maintenance (current taxes fall short of doing so) and then some to account for the health effects of burning the fuel.

 

It is just another bad tax idea. The per gallon gas tax we have at least encourages people to buy cars that use less fuel.

We have the same kind of goofy proposal in Oregon, the governor wants to force everyone to install a GPS tracking device in their car that would keep track of the mileage driven, then it would be read out at the gas pump and you would pay your mileage tax when you paid for your gas. Oregon governor looking at GPS-based mileage tax to fund roads -- Engadget

Of course not every one agrees that it is such a good idea: Oregon's Mileage Tax: A Truly Bad Idea

The only reason it might have a chance is because the companies that would supply the GPS devices, mileage readout equipment, etc. will contribute big dollars to the politicians. Our current crop of legislators, unfortunately, may be highly susceptible to such quasi legal bribery.

Of course they have promised that they would not ever even consider using the system to track people every time they drove their cars. Well maybe just people who were enemies, after all if you obey the law you don't have a thing to worry about.

 

Enforcement transitions from trivial to near impossible. To achieve the same level of enforcement, a vast number of government paid snoopers would have to be hired to make your life a lot more cumbersome. Then on top of that, the people being identified as the offenders are the ones doing the best actions to conserve our resources.

But I'm not too worried. When gas prices shoot up, Nevada gets SCREWED by their road revenues going way down. All the other states can increment the gas tax as a constant percentage of the sales price and their revenue goes up.

 

This is just another revenue scam like ethanol. People are using less fuel year over year and the states and federal government are watching their revenues drop.

As more and more people like me who go from a 20 mpg Volvo to a 50 mpg Prius these revenues are going to continue to drop. Gas mileage is increasing and people are starting to increase the amount of miles they are driving due to less cost per mile.

Less gas sold means less dollars to the greedy government.

My Prius generates $200 less in gasoline taxes each year than what I was paying with my old Volvo 740 wagon.

 

If for some unexplained reason you wished to tax vehicles based on the wear they caused on the highways, you would base it on miles and weight, which would eliminate the trucking industry overnight.

 

Your position depends upon less fuel being sold 'year over year' which does not appear to be the case.
Sure, you may be using less fuel, but some are using more. We also have more new drivers in the US than drivers that are hanging up the keys.
While we did have a decrease in gas consumption when gas hit $4/gallon, it was short lived and we are on the increase again.

I applaud you for using less, but as a nation, we have yet to reverse the trend.

 

We should follow Europe's example where fuel is the equivalent of $2.50 Liter ($10 gal). The "extra" are taxes that support walking & bicycle routes, light & high speed rail, health care and other efforts. This discourages individual vehicle use and encourages bicycle & train use. This should be coupled with an "oil depletion" tax that accounts for oil being finite. Spendthrift fuel guzzlers get the messages immediately, including "warehouses" on wheels.

 

It is quite clearly rediculous and will never happen. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was an election of somesorts coming up in your area soon though.

 

That is about the dumbest idea ever, not surprising considering who runs the state though, the gas tax as is benefits all the citizens of Nevada, tourists pay it, travelers pay it, truckers pay it, most if not all non citizens. If you take that away, the citizens of Nevada are going to be paying a lot in mileage tax.

 

I'd say distance-based insurance would be a good idea, but it should be in addition to fuel tax, not instead of it.

 

As Jimbo says, wear and tear is based on distance AND weight. The gas tax gives a good approximation for most cars, since heavier cars cause more wear and tear on roads and burn more gas. The Prius is below the main curve for gas usage based on weight, but in the long term, the better technology will catch on.

We should keep gas taxes high because of the carbon.

But as an EV driver I have to say that I should have to pay a tax to account for the wear and tear that my very small car puts on the roads.

 

Then there will be all the border areas where folks will zip over for cheap gas and return to their home state. . . . (Need to suggest this to Tennessee and neighboring states.)

Bob Wilson

 

Are they going to make it a felony to be caught with a "broken" odometer?

 

Daniel if you feel that guilty about it, you can sent a check to your state for the $0.32 cents that your tiny zap causes in damage every year.

I ride a 300 pound sportsbike, that's about as much damage as a fat guy crossing the street.

 

Gasoline use is a good proxy for mileage * weight, which is arguably what should be taxed, since it is proportional to road maintenance requirements. EVs and plug-in hybrids will eventually have to be taxed differently when there are enough to matter. But since they will all be new vehicles, adding a GPS will be a minimal expense.

Meanwhile, why not pay for INSURANCE at the gas pump as well? Mileage is also a reasonable proxy for the liklihood of accidents, so why not make that proportional to gas usage?

Richard

 

The cheapest and least intrusive way to collect road taxes is through gasoline taxes and registration fees. These can be used as a good surrogate of weight and mileage if done properly.

Other reasons in include the health consequences of the pollution, the cost to our country in importing foreign oil, and if done properely some impact to the total environment from getting said oil, refining it, and the green house gasses emitted.

Side benefits of gas taxes are lower consumption of fuel, less pollution, and yes even fewer injury accidents.

So government corruption, profits for private companies that must be added to the tax, and a little more government watching us to see what we are doing. All this while worsening the balance of trade, burning more of a limited resource, and likely adding to the accident rate and health care costs.

btw: registration fees can correct for wear and tear of fe vehicles. The thing is we want more ev's and fuel efficient vehicals on the road, so states have decided to tax them less not more. I agree with this, and it goes exactly against the grain of the tax mileage proposal.