The NY Daily News, which uses vast amounts of fossil fuels to deliver its dead tree edition, is super enthused to raise the gas tax to modify your behavior
This is the moment to hike the gas tax
President Trump recently floated the idea of raising the national gas tax to pay for a possible infrastructure program, but was rebuffed by congressional Republicans. The President is totally right, and Democrats should loudly and proudly stand with him.
It was an idea that was thrown out into the wind by Trump, then he moved on. But, hey, if Democrats want to push raising the federal gas tax, which will lead to a cost of living increase, I’m all for them doing that.
According to most experts, the recently passed tax reform package will increase the enormous federal deficit even if it boosts economic growth. Add to that a large infrastructure program and the problem will only get worse.
How can we deal with the deficit and address the rising threat of climate change as well?
I think they already told us. Taxation!
The U.S. now maintains a federal gas tax of just 18.4 cents — modest compared with most industrialized nations. Britain’s equivalent comes out to nearly $3.50 a gallon. The American tax, started during the Great Depression, hasn’t been raised since 1993.
Now, with gasoline prices much lower than they have been in past years, is a good time to do it.
It is rare we can kill so many birds with one stone.
Nearly all scientists agree that using fossil fuels causes climate change. They say we need to slash our greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80% or even 90% by 2050.
Making hydrocarbons more expensive will accelerate the development of alternative energy resources such as solar, wind and geothermal power by making them more cost-competitive. The world is moving toward these sources of energy; many countries now aim to eliminate the gasoline-powered engine in the coming decades. Major global cities are doing even more.
Democrats love their taxes. Funny how they don’t like giving up their own use of fossil fuels.
At present, hybrid models like the sleek Tesla or Prius remain too costly for many consumers. Raise the price of gas and they’ll become more appealing.
The Prius is well within the price range of the middle class. Many people choose not to buy it. The Testla’s, though, are above the price range of the typical middle class buyer.
Here comes the double edged bit to the policy proposal
If a gas tax is explained and developed well and implemented gradually — with credits to protect the poor, which are easy enough to build into any plan — it can be appealing across the spectrum.
So, first, artificially increase the cost of gas, which raises the cost of everything, making it harder for the lower and middle classes to afford to travel and purchase items. Then, give them some money from the Helpful Hand Of Government, making them even more reliant on government. Rather insidious.
So raise the gas tax, I’m happy tooling around in my geothermal powered car….
I have no problem at all with fuel taxes: they are used to pay for the roads, making fuel taxes directly linked to the government services they provide.
However, they are very poorly done. Federal law require that 92¢ out of every $1.00 raised by the federal excise tax be spent in the state in which it was collected. A wiser alternative would be to cut the federal tax by 92%, giving the states that room to raise their own fuel taxes. There is no reason whatsoever to send that money to the Feds, to have the Feds then turn right around and send it back to the states. That just adds another level of bureaucracy, at both the state and federal levels, and is wasted money; cars drive on pavement, not paper!
That said, some states really suck when it comes to highway taxes and work. The Keystone State enjoys the highest gasoline tax in the nation, at 58.2¢ per gallon, and the Commonwealth has just about the worst roads I’ve seen. Kentucky, on the other hand, has the 31st highest, at 26.0¢ per gallon, and in my not-so-humble opinion, the roads are significantly better in the Bluegrass State than Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania does have worse winter conditions, and PennDOT spends a lot of money on winter road treatment, but that doesn’t justify more than double the tax rate.
In addition, Pennsylvania has far more toll roads to provide money for road maintenance. The Commonwealth has simply short-funded maintenance for decades, through Republican and Democratic administrations alike.
My older daughter just went car shopping, and despite my distaste for buying foreign cars,¹ she wanted a Prius Hybrid. A new Prius was $34,000, but she was able to get a dealer-used Prius, with 6,300 miles on it, for $24,500.
I will say this: her Prius is nice, with a lot of fancy bells and whistles. It’s her money, and she can spend it as she likes.
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¹ – I will buy only Fords. I will buy only American cars, and Ford is the only American car manufacturer which did not take the government bailout.
Honda and Toyota both have factories in the USA. Ford (except F-150) is mostly made in Mexico and Canada. Honda and Toyota did not take the bailouts. At this point, they are as American as Ford.
They’re profits are repatriated to Japan.
I’ll say it again: I do not buy foreign cars.
Eventually there will be some kind of usage type tax placed on hybrids and EVs to pay their “fair” share for the roads and bridges they use.
My state just raised the gas tax 10 cents a gallon because of the revenue loss from electric and hybrids. Kinda pissed me off. These cars use the roads the same as I do but don’t pay their fair share. My thought was to calculate what the average person pays in taxes a year on gas. If you drive an all electric car, you pay 100% of this when you get your tags renewed every year. A hybrid owner would pay 50% at registration time. The gas powered car driver pays theirs at the pump.
“A tax raise for the poor†this time instead of a “tax cut for the wealthyâ€.