Gasoline tax: Eh?

[ciphergoth]

Motorists' habits spur call for tax increases
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren't raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs. [...] A roughly 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission [...]

The dilemma for Congress is that highway and transit programs are dependent for revenue on fuel taxes that are not sustainable. Many Americans are driving less and switching to more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and a shift to new fuels and technologies like plug-in hybrid electric cars will further erode gasoline sales.

According to a draft of the financing commission's recommendations, the nation needs to move to a new system that taxes motorists according to how much they use roads. While details have not been worked out, such a system would mean equipping every car and truck with a device that uses global positioning satellites and transponders to record how many miles the vehicle has been driven, and perhaps the type of roads and time of day.

I may be missing something but I don't get this at all. What's the problem with a tax that discourages people from driving large, fuel-inefficient vehicles? What's wrong with putting economic pressure on trucking to encourage development of fuel-efficient ways of moving goods? Sure, if there comes a time when there's lots of people driving cars that cause congestion and wear but don't consume gasoline, they're going to have to have an alternative way of taxing roads, but that day is a long long way off, and developing that alternative now will only help postpone it.

Fuel in the states averages 42.6 ¢/L. Fuel tax in the US varies by state but averages 12.4 ¢/L.

Comments

[pir.livejournal.com]

That. Also cars and driving is seen as such an inalienable right that anything (like, say, real driving tests) which makes it harder starts people screaming about commie bastards and other such over-reactions.

There's no realistic way to make it fly.

[actionreplay.livejournal.com]

California has a pretty stringent driving test...

edited to add:In so much of the US though, driving IS the only way to get around. You need a banger to get to and from your minimum wage job. SF and the major cities on the east coast are exceptions. People DO need their cars and without one can't get to and from work.

[pir.livejournal.com]

My description of the CA test would be "somewhat less of a joke than the rest of the country" rather than "pretty stringent". I did my US car test in MA which was an utter joke, NYC is somewhere inbetween.

I'm aware there are many socio-economic reasons for the way things are in the US with respect to cars (lived in Boston for 8 years). I think there are many ways it could be improved, particularly in areas with enough density to support more and better public transit than they have but that and the attitudes that surround it in the US are another rant entirely.