Opinions: Gas Tax

In my area motorcycles, my insight and other small vehicles pay wheel tax.

My truck is except as are semis and commercial vehicles.

That is how the wrong way totax works

 

I agree. I have a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. I would pay more gas tax and fees on it than i would on a vehicle like the Ford Escape 4 cylinder. You would be better off getting a fuel efficient Honda Civic with close to 40 mpg than a Toyota Prius V which gets about 2 to 3 mpg more and avoid the $60 every 2 years.

#1 in Easley,SC

 

Gas taxes should be used for their intended purpose, not used to pay for other things in the state budget.


iPhone ? Pro

 

I surveyed just the electric only cars, none of the plug-in hybrids. Here are the plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles:

	count	MPGe	model
1	1	136	2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric Electricity
2	2	133	2017 Toyota Prius Prime
3	3	124	2017 BMW i3 BEV (60 Amp-hour battery) Electricity
4	4	119	2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Electricity
5	5	119	2017 Volkswagen e-Golf Electricity
6	6	118	2017 BMW i3 BEV (94 Amp-hour battery) Electricity
7	7	112	2017 Nissan Leaf Electricity
8	8	112	2017 Fiat 500e Electricity
9	9	112	2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electricity
10	10	111	2017 BMW i3 REX (94 Amp-hour battery)
11	11	107	2017 Ford Focus Electric Electricity
12	12	106	2017 Chevrolet Volt
13	13	105	2017 Kia Soul Electric Electricity
14	14	104	2017 Tesla Model S AWD - 90D Electricity
15	15	104	2017 Tesla Model S AWD - 60D Electricity
16	16	103	2017 Tesla Model S AWD - 75D Electricity
17	17	103	2017 Kia Optima Plug-in Hybrid
18	18	102	2017 Tesla Model S AWD - 100D Electricity
19	19	99	2017 Tesla Model S (60 kW-hr battery pack) Electricity
20	20	99	2017 Hyundai Sonata Plug-in Hybrid
21	21	98	2017 Tesla Model S (75 kW-hr battery pack) Electricity
22	22	98	2017 Tesla Model S AWD - P100D Electricity
23	23	97	2017 Ford Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid
24	24	95	2017 Tesla Model S AWD - P90D Electricity
25	25	95	2017 Ford C-MAX Energi Plug-In Hybrid
26	26	93	2017 Tesla Model X AWD - 75D Electricity
27	27	93	2017 Tesla Model X AWD - 60D Electricity
28	28	92	2017 Tesla Model X AWD - 90D Electricity
29	29	89	2017 Tesla Model X AWD - P90D Electricity
30	30	86	2017 Tesla Model X AWD - P100D Electricity
31	31	84	2017 Mercedes-Benz B250e Electricity
32	32	84	2017 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in Hybrid
33	33	83	2017 Audi A3 e-tron
34	34	76	2017 BMW i8
35	35	72	2017 BYD e6 Electricity
36	36	71	2017 BMW 330e
37	37	64	2017 BMW 740e xDrive
38	38	62	2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In
39	39	58	2017 Mercedes-Benz S550e
40	40	56	2017 BMW X5 xDrive40e
41	41	54	2017 Volvo XC90 AWD PHEV
42	42	51	2017 Mercedes-Benz C350e
43	43	46	2017 Porsche Cayenne S e-Hybrid
44	44	43	2017 Mercedes-Benz GLE550e 4matic

Bob Wilson

 

Opinion: This topic is why you never ever EVER want dot.gov to "solve" problems.

Gas taxes are pretty simple and straight forward, which of course is why one can never expect dot.gov to keep them in place.
The truth is that if the revenue generated from fuel taxes were spent on their original intended purpose (roads) then there would be a "yuuuuge" surplus in whatever notional bucket of beans that the government uses to dole out road construction and maintenance contracts...........AND......there would be a 12-lane highway system to and from every city in America with more than 5,000 people in it......AND potholes would be as scarce as bi-partisan ideas are now.

However (comma!)
Unlike the US government, states do not print money, and so many of them hoover money out of one part of the budget to pay for the other parts.......because.....each state has to pretend to make some feeble effort to balance their budgets,

Result....gas tax coffers get raped for things that have little to do with gasoline vehicles.....in all 50 states.

So....even with all of the graft and corruption in transportation, this COULD be a simple problem to solve if you divorce partisan politics from the solution.
Two basic factors wear out roads: Volume and Weight.
Therefore, you can create a law to mitigate these two factors on the back of a postcard.
You simply assign a per-mile tax that is assessed whenever a vehicle registration is renewed, and you assign a multiplier based on the GWVR.
Odometer fraud is already a felony, and there is already a requirement in most states to provide a reading whenever the registration is renewed and/or the vehicle is inspected.
One of the (few) good things about having a bloated DOT is that all vehicles already have a GWVR rating.

So.....with the information that dot.gov ALREADY has, one could assign a road use tax that is fair, private, efficient, and (if nobody loots the fund) effective.
However.....(comma!) since there is a zero-percent chance that dot.gov can dole out favors to special interest groups with a tax that is fair, private, efficient and effective there is also a zero percent chance that a road use tax will be implemented.
Instead, what we will get is some new agency requiring reams of new regulations and new equipment requirements, and hours and hours and hours of wailing, crying and gnashing of teeth.
We will be "shocked and outraged" some day to discover that some legislator has deep financial ties to the company that oversees the mandatory new GPS trackers, and after a few decades this new tax will result in so little new revenues for roads and bridges that some future President will be forced to spend 2-3 terabucks on a new "infrastructure" bill.

Already seen that movie.....thanks, anyway!


See you at the polls.....

 

More taxes, more, more......
N.J. pays highest cost per mile for some of the country's worst state roads, study finds | NJ.com