Dumb Idea of the Week: Repealing the Gas Tax Because Too Many People Drive Priuses

Sadam H a Dear Friend! Geez are you kidding? He was a Murder and a dictator. He commited genocide by gassing innocent Kurd civilians. He raised in his country political system by killing people. Come on !!!!

 

Ever been to Germany? It has a hard time accepting foreigners or non German people into it's society. It is not the standard of anything. German cars are expensive, break often, and it's roads are nothing near as great as the USA roads. The Japanese car story is much better. It's economy is in the dumper and it is trying to control the EU. The reason why the England did not join the UE was because of Germany. The USA is a far better story on modern economies. German crimes and the fact that so many Germans knew and did nothing is a shame Germans must live with. I would never put Germany in any light of good ever. The Autobahn was built in the 1930 and frankly not as good as the American Interstate ststem which covers a far larger country.

 

If the USA GNP is 2 x Germany and we have lower taxes. Lower taxes tells us that it is the example we must follow. To continue to grow our economy we must lower taxes. Simple and elegant. If we create more taxes you will see capital flight out of the country and investment will leave our shores.

 

Many times and to Iraq when Saddam was in power. Sent there by Reagan who wanted US to help Saddam. But my personal anecdotes are as meaningless as yours and as unreliable.

Best to go by the hard facts.

We do know that Germany has a much higher gasoline tax, much better roads, much higher energy efficiency, much better mass transit system, much lower green house gas emissions, much better car industry, much better alternative energy industry...things directly related to high gasoline tax.

 

Germany has pollution worse than LA on a bad day. Having a higher gasoline tax is nothing to be proud of. Any consumer would enjoy cheaper gasoline. The Mass Transit in NYC, Washington DC, Chicago etc is second to none. Lower green house emissions afraid not, Germans manufacturing smoke stacks are a crying shame, Diesel is not the Future as VM believes and is a CO2 offender, Germanies economy is in decline it was surpassed by Japan and recently China in GNP, Germans are still and have always been Xenophobic just ask any Multi Generational Turk living in Germany. Any country that would follow a mad man with his death factories to the brink and not overturn this evil says that it's Culture lacks what is necessary to be revered. That is the Shame every German lives with.

 

Again...stick with hard numbers. Per capita greenhouse gas emissions in Germany are 12 tons a year vs US 23 tons so Germany pollutes 50% less. Hard numbers same as the gas tax, $3 a gallon vs. US $.50. 50% more energy efficient than US. Gasoline tax, this topic, is key to Germany's success.

 

So if we increased th gas tax $3 a gallon tomorrow in the USA our economy will crash. Probaly 20% would not be able to get to work. immediatly the delivery of products would increase to pay to deliver products to retailers . Cost increases will make companies lay off people. people would be late with bills due to the increases in gasoline. Gasoline needed to manufacture products would make our products more expensive and less competitive worldwide.

Imagine what would happen to the German economy if they repealed the gas tax? Maybe they at catch up to Japan. How is diesel fuel taxed? Gasoline powered cars are rare in Europe. Show me the proof Germans don't pollute. The Rhine is among the most polluted rivers in the world. Industrial pollution makes fish not there. Are you German?

 

And if we get hit by meteor, a more likely scenario, economy would crash also...now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

If we did raise gas tax over 10 years people would drive less and transition to driving 50 mpg cars vs. current 25 mpg average. Now where could we find 50 mpg cars...hmm.

US auto industry would become much more competitive in world markets. US economy would boom as US would save $300B per year lost to oil imports and dollar exports. Add in $400B in additional gas tax revenue pumped into road, mass transit and alternative energy industry and it would be a near $1T economic stimulus. Cutting US military spending which is 60% for oil wars, another $400B stimulus. US would also see a 40% drop in greenhouse gas emissions and other oil and water pollution costs associated with oil use. Add in paying down the $14T oil war debt a huge economic stimulus for US.

 

Actually legislation is in place to reward car manufacturers to increase average MPG. That is more progressive than increasing taxes. I pay enough taxes and I drive a Prius to save money and lower carbon out of the tail pipe. I don't need extra taxes to motivate me.

These are sad days in California as we are being over taxed including fed state and sales tax increases. Millionaires are very common in California and can expect an 8% haircut off the top. Appalling. Even a Prius cannot reverse that damage. Look I applaud your motivation but the path is not the best choice.

 

This topic is about exactly the opposite government policy.

 

Think we beat it to death. Lets agree to disagree.

 

I don't think you will get very far on the sales tax argument. There are very expensive poor fuel economy models that also pay more in sales tax.

In Texas it was proposed to put in a guzzer tax on SUVs to help pay for roads. This would be only on the worst mpg SUVs, and SUVs have no federal guzzer tax so it wouldn't be double taxation. IMHO the proposed new taxes in Virgina are mainly political. There are a high percentage of hybrids, and these are looked upon as those in the guzzling class as bad. Seeking sales tax use will just rile these folks.

The main argument against this is that a sales tax increase is extremely regressive and hits those least able to afford it. I may just drive people to shop in other states and on-line. Raising the gas tax on someone that has a more efficient car doesn't raise their tax burden. That choice reduces imports of OPEC oil. There just isn't enough revenue from hybrids to make up the short fall. What the law proposes is a move to help OPEC and hurt the great state of Virginia.

 

They who? Source? Care to point me to reputable sources of proven reserves and projected production rates to back up this claim?

 

Here is the link. By 2030 the USA will be an oil exporting country. CNBC Larry Kudlow had a good show on it a few weeks ago.


U.S. Foreign Oil Imports Projected to Decline by More than 50% Within the Next Decade - Yahoo! Finance

 

Looks fishy. Got anything to substantiate the "proven" reserves? Lots of figures look wrong too.

20% doesn't jive with the 45% at Oil: Crude and Petroleum Products - Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding Energy - Energy Information Administration. That 45% net imports is higher in better times.

I could possibly see North American oil independence by 2030 or so due to our own production + that of Canada and Mexico but not US oil independence.

Divide the # of barrels at CIA - The World Factbook the US possess by our daily consumption. You'd see there'd only be enough to last ~1100 days.

 

Wiki says a lot depends on EV acceptance in the USA. The majority of our consumption is transportation. A lot can happen in 20 years.

United States energy independence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I've never seen that "article" before.

It still doesn't address what the "proven" reserves are nor production rate. I noticed ANWR is mentioned there, well, look at EIA - Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - Results for projected production rate. They mention "high- resource-case production peaks at 1,450,000 barrels per day in 2028." That's not very helpful when we currently consume over 18 million barrels/day and it passes 20 million in better economic times.

Sure a lot can happen but have you looked at the hybrid and plug-in vehicle "take rate" at December 2012 Dashboard - HybridCars.com A bunch of the EVs listed there are either CA compliance cars or their automakers sure aren't trying very hard to sell them (e.g. Ford Focus Electric).

 

If you read that analyst forecast, he has the US importing less oil, not exporting. The projection is for North America, namely Canada to increase oil sands production and export more than the US imports by 2030. That could happen if the price of oil goes high enough, but its way out there speculation.

I don't really take much from CNBC seriously. They are trying to be stock traders not energy analysts.