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US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero

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Re: US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero

#3
I mean we're dealing with an administration that paid off windfarms billions to NOT build

but this endless war of choice is making everything in the world extra horrible

and Russia just got another pass to sell more oil at top dollar to fund their own war

Re: US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero

#5
$130/yr? No matter how heavy the vehicle or how many miles you drive?

This is all so silly. Every other mode of publicly funded transportation infrastructure has direct user fees based on usage, why not roads? Some combination of highway tolls and a weight-based mileage fee.

But that would be an impossible sell because Americans have the impression that roads spring from the ground for free, since they're paid for indirectly with other taxes and figuring out how much of your personal tax bill goes to roads is nearly impossible.

Re: US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero

#6

Gas tax is politically toxic. But maybe an excise tax on oil profits? (If you could come up with a Constitutional way to tax only energy exports, that would be better still.)

The electorate is not so stupid that "it turns out people really don't want what I'm peddling so I'm just gonna reframe it and those idiots will be none the wiser" is likely to work.

Nevermind the fact that by moving it from gas to oil companies you're also then taxing "energy" more generally and it's gonna show up across the entire economy.

Re: US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero

#7
post #3

I mean we're dealing with an administration that paid off windfarms billions to NOT build but this endless war of choice is making everything in the world extra horrible and Russia just got another pass to sell more oil at top dollar to fund their own war

We also subsidize fossil fuels at around US$800 B/year direct, and much more than that indirect (wars, pollution, warming etc). A 100% fossil tax is what we need to kick that habit.

Re: US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero

#8
post #2

A deeply unserious country. What else can you say?

That Duffy sent this letter to the governors: https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/memorandum/Freedom_to_Drive_Initiat...

Asking them to maximise roadway capacity (that’s to say just one more lane bro) in order to solve congestion, at the explicit request to have other modes of transport minimised. “recover roadway capacity from other purposes to support driving” because that’ll solve congestion. Deeply, deeply unserious.

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