Bill Saidel wrote:
Years ago, I suggested to the Car Guys and in this list that gas taxes
should be linked to the type of car. SUV's would pay more gas tax than
Hyundai's and Jags would be up there, too, while >20 mpg cars would be
taxed more reasonably.
SUV's and Jags already pay more taxes. If a car uses 50% more gas than
another one, it is paying 50% more in fuel taxes.
The other problem is that fuel taxes support the roads. I saw an article
about a natural gas powered car that fills up at home. (It has a device
that compresses the home's natural gas and pumps it into the car). This
owner is paying NO road use taxes.
The only way to get fuel prices down is for the idiots in congress to come
up with a realistic energy plan. Open ANWAR and the seabed to drilling.
Develop synthetic fuels (which reminds me, in WW II, the Germans were able
to make gasoline and diesel from coal. The US has the world largest coal
supply. Are you telling me that 60 years later we don't have the technology
to turn coal into gas?)
The one thing that will not work is pushing higher mileage. It may help,
but the American consumer always has a way to get what he wants. Remember
during the 70's gas shortage when all the manufacturers went to smaller
cars? What happened?
Remember conversion vans? They gave the consumer the room he wanted and at
least the impression of a larger safer vehicle. And then came SUVs.
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