Read this article, and laugh with me. They claim that what makes a tax fair is people pay in proportion to the amount of use they get out of roads.
The gas tax was fair because it was based on a simple principle: user pays, user benefits. Before the gas tax, all taxpayers paid for the upkeep of roads and building new ones. But this was particularly unfair to the poorest people who could not afford a car.
They go on to then admit that the tax isn’t about revenue- it’s about punishing the rich.
Originally introduced as a fair way for automobile drivers to pay for the upkeep of the roads they use, it has become less fair as rich people buy hybrid and electric vehicles.
They go on and on about those people who aren’t poor.
This unfairness is compounded by the fact that hybrid or electric vehicle (EV) owners are likely to be well-educated, young, and comparatively well-off. A study by TrueCar.com, for example, found that the average owner of a Ford Focus Electric had a household income of $199,000 a year. The people who are paying the most for road upkeep are more likely to be less well-educated, older, and poorer than the hybrid/EV owners.
So poor people don’t benefit from roads? Obama claimed that business owners “didn’t build that” because all of society made business possible because infrastructure is paid for by all. Doesn’t that also mean that everyone is responsible to pay for that infrastructure?
Since electric cars do just as much damage to roads as gas-powered cars, we will still need to spend just as much on maintaining roads in a world with electric cars as we do today. Also, as long as most of the electricity is still coming from fossil fuels, we should want the tax to discourage driving in general.
Nope- just more communism sneaking into our political landscape.
9 Comments
SiG · August 13, 2021 at 7:56 am
I ran across this the other day and consider it a “Fun Fact.”
The much-disliked federal tax incentives for electric car makers goes away when they sell 200,000 cars. Tesla no longer gets that; I think Toyota doesn’t. GM, Ford and Chrysler do. The tax incentives for buyers go primarily to people with incomes over $100,000.
There’s a bill in congress to remove the 200,000 unit sale limit and to make sure that everybody gets the tax credit for buying one.
mississloppigarro · August 13, 2021 at 10:19 am
Fair
The tax should be on tires. No matter the transportation type.
Brian_E · August 13, 2021 at 8:30 pm
There used to be an excise tax on tires. I know – I’m the IT guy that ran the programming to calculate it back when it was in use and was handled by RMA (Rubber Manufacturers Association), the trade association of the tire and rubber industry. The data used was an offshoot of the info used to generate aggregate reporting in important production of truck, automotive, and industrial tires. We also had Treasury Dept agents camped out in our conference room a couple of weeks a year as they audited the results.
Until flying cars are a ‘thing’, taxing tires used for highway use seems more fair than a fuel or miles driven tax, with the double advantage of applying to all vehicles, regardless of fuel – and requires no ‘gadget’ or other reporting of when or where you actually drive – preserving our privacy.
Jonathan · August 13, 2021 at 11:08 am
There are lots of ideas for more fair road taxes; I have yet to find one I like.
it's just Boris · August 13, 2021 at 2:21 pm
Any tax scheme can, and probably will, be viewed as fair by and to some people, and unfair by and to others.
Divemedic · August 13, 2021 at 5:11 pm
Except with this tax, the stated purpose is to tax rich people in order to make them poor.
it's just Boris · August 13, 2021 at 9:59 pm
I stand by my statement. 🙂
TexBob · August 13, 2021 at 7:13 pm
If you don’t drive on Federal Highways, then you should not have to pay a tax?
Farmers get rebates. I would get rebate for my boat each year based on the number gallons used each year.
This is all bullshit.
Don Curton · August 15, 2021 at 7:45 am
Never mind that my 4500 lb truck (2.25 tons) does very little interstate road damage compared to a 80,000 lb (40 ton) 18-wheeler. Of course, taxing the 18-wheeler just raises the price of my groceries, so we end up paying regardless.
How’s this? We take the current gas tax and ACTUALLY EFFING USE IT FOR ROAD REPAIR rather than anything else. They’ve taken the taxes we already pay for road repair and stolen that for other pet projects and then complain there’s no money to maintain roads. Yes there is. We’ve already paid it. Damn politicians.
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