Tax gas guzzlers off the road.. like here in UK!

The UK and Europe have been way ahead of us in this area. I can see two reasons why this is so:

1) The US, in general, is not set up for mass transportation. Because of cheap land, cheap automobiles, and cheap fuel, people and cities in the US are scattered like a weeks wash. If you can't drive, you can't get there. This makes the transition from personal transportation harder. I know this isn't directly the subject of your post, but it's part of the bigger issue. It's much easier to live without a car in most European cities.

2) Most Americans think they have a god given right to do whatever they damn well want to do whenever they want to do it, and consume resources as they see fit. We used to have a lot of open space in this country, and a surplus of resources. When things got too tight, you simply moved farther west. That wild west thinking still prevails in a lot of our policies and attitudes: "If I want to drive a gas sucking, pollution spewing beast of a truck, who are you to tell me I can't do it." Seriously, most Americans feel entitled. Collectively, we exhibit the same tendencies as a spoiled three year old. This, of course, helps endear us to much of the rest of the world (not!). There is nothing quite like a spoiled three year old with nuclear weapons.

It's going to take a while for this attitude of entitlement to go away. Whether we do it through enlightened attitudes or financial collapse is still to be seen.

Tom

 

A gas tax would suffice to punish gas guzzlers. The UK Tax appears to be based on CO2 emissions. Am I reading the table right?

 

I think a better idea would be to tax all cars more in general and put the money towards mass transit infrastructure, high density housing and bike lanes. The pollution from automobiles is far larger than gas consumption: building roads, gas stations, manufacturing of the vehicle. Even though Prius's get relatively (key word) good mileage, the don't deserve a free ride. If taxing vehicles off the road is a strategy, Prius's should certainly not get a free ride.

 

In the US, auto registration fees are established by each state - so the fee structure has 50 variations. Some states (such as California) assess fees based upon vehicle value. Other states assess fees based upon vehicle weight.

Note that the prior California governor was recalled partly due to voter unhappiness with vehicle license fees. The current governor, upon assuming office, established a 2/3 reduction in those fees.

 

Too bad he didn't get a 2/3 reduction in vehicle size too.

Tom

 

No, we don't! We don't! We don't! We don't! We don't!

I'm telling mommy now.

 

Instead of taxing gas guzzlers, we ought to take some of our tax money and lend it to Big Auto so that they can "re-tool" (and put more profit into their CEOs' pockets...)

Yea. We Americans "get it". We really do.

 

I think HIGHER tax for gasoline/fuel is still the best approach.
Regardless of what class of vehicles you own, you pay more taxes by consuming more....it's that simple and still maintain the American spirit of "Who are you to tell me I can't do it".

Yea, no one said you can't do it...just that you have to pay more to maintain that 'privilege'.

 

I agree on the gas tax for private use vehicles. We've already seen what happens when gas prices skyrocket. Consumers scramble to purchase more efficient vehicles. An "artificial" gas price increase would do the same thing. The revenues could be used for more research in alternative fuels.

 

Has anyone seen the bumper stickers:

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less*


They are sometimes found on large pickups and SUV's. Makes me want to stop the driver and smack them upside the head with a cluebat.

*Edit: Apparently this is from the brain of Newt Gingrich. Figures.

 

Well, it's not as if the US isn't doing anything at all. The US actually did start taxing gas guzzlers a long time ago, but has a slightly different strategy. Instead of taxing annually or biannually, the entire tax is paid at once at the time of sale by the manufacturer.

The Gas Guzzler Tax starts at <22.5 USmpg (>244 g/km CO2) with $100 Tax, and goes up to <12.5 USmpg (>438g/kmCO2) with $7,700 Tax.

The problem is that it's outdated now. The limits are not nearly strict enough, and light trucks are exempted because at the time the law was passed, they were used mostly only by workers to earn their living. Meanwhile light trucks have become luxury cars, and the politicians can't agree on new stricter limits.

Then there's the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program, which served as the model for the new EU auto fleet CO2 limits. This was also started a long time ago, but stagnated at the same level for several years because politicians couldn't agree on a new stricter level. Under the Bush administration the standards have begun being made more strict again, and are being reformed to include more light trucks that were formerly exempt.
But it's too complicated for me to explain here in a reasonable amount of time, so if you like, you may follow the above link to many joyful hours of reading about the US method of taxing gas guzzlers.

 

In the US, if you own a small business, you can expense the first $25K of the cost of a new vehicle with GVR above 6,000 lb, under Internal Revenue Code Section 179. This tax benefit encourages small business owners to purchase Chevrolet Suburban-sized vehicles.
Section 179 depreciation deduction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Yes, the tax write off for commercial light trucks is a major flaw. But how do you close that loophole for people who abuse it without penalizing the honest hard working people who depend upon such vehicles for their livelihood?

 

Personally, I think that coercing workers into hauling and towing heavy supplies and equipment with underpowered vans in order to claim their tax breaks falls into the category of penalizing, not to mention potentially dangerous. I also think that the persons who depend on such vehicles for their livelihood already tend to choose the most suitable motorization for their requirements anyway, whereas the office workers who don't need light trucks at all would benefit most from a tax break on weakly motorized trucks.

How long do you think it would be before office workers would start driving around in high powered luxury "commercial vehicle" vans in order to take advantage of the tax breaks?

 

The only thing that more taxes have done for us is to provide us with more ineffective government.

Keith

 

And make the US only 9.7 trillion in debt (or 59.1 trillion in debt if you count Medicaid and Social Security) rather than even worse. The US seriously needs to its taxes.

 

I agree that taxing the gasoline is the best way to go.
No one gets a free ride, but the more you use the more tax you pay.
Gas rebates for companies with fleets, taxis, trucking, deliveries, etc.