The House is working on a five-year highway reauthorization bill that would authorize $580 billion ahead of the current law expiration on September 30.
Which sounds reasonable until you think about what costs we refuse to externalize (road repair) and which costs we happily externalize (pollution).
It’s an interesting discussion I’ve had with coworkers recently where there’s a strong sentiment with some people that renewable energy needs to stand on its own, but the same argument could be made for fossil fuels and needing to account for environmental damage in pricing. Subsidizing renewable energy (tax credits, avoiding gasoline tax, etc) is an indirect way to compensate for the externalized costs of fossil fuels, which wouldn’t be palatable or popular if done directly.
Money needs to come from somewhere for roads, but it’s very hard to decouple infrastructure funding concerns from environmental concerns since no one is willing to tackle the problem head on with something like a carbon tax.
Burning fossil fuels kills more than 250,000 people a year in the US. What is the value of a human life? Tax that shit before penalizing the non polluters.
Which sounds reasonable until you think about what costs we refuse to externalize (road repair) and which costs we happily externalize (pollution).
The fact is that road maintenance is funded in part by a gas tax and we’re increasingly adding vehicles to the road that do not pay gas tax. The road maintenance is still there and I’m sure EV drivers will want it to be done as well. Go over to a /c/bicycles forum and ask them how willing they are to subsidize any road maintenance and you’ll figure out quickly why we do something akin to a “use tax” on roads using gasoline as a proxy.
Pay for your fucking pollution first and then maybe we’ll consider it.
Also, fuck off about bicycles. We’re saving you road maintenance costs by not being in a car! If everyone paid their fair share proportional to the amount of damage they do (which scales by the fourth power of vehicle weight) and cyclists were charged 1¢, car drivers would owe tens of thousands of dollars.
Your comment is entirely entitled, ignorant bullshit.
Why not tax on weight and milage. Then it doesn’t matter the type of engine you have or how efficient it is. Only how far you go and how much you damage the road as a result?
It’s not a bad idea - though it does add the overhead of some new bureaucracy. Somebody will need to gather that data yearly. Maybe could be done as part of auto inspections though.
Yeah - it “makes sense” but getting from logical to legislation is a bitch. People don’t like “new taxes” and working out the details would be tricky. Do you apply it to ICE automobiles as well? If so do you reduce the gas tax? If so you’ll be giving a potential benefit to gas guzzlers. etc.
You apply it to all vehicles. The intention of the gas tax was to help offset road maintenance. The biggest damage is based on weight and the more miles you drive, the more you cause that damage.
The efficiency of the engine isn’t at play here, if it was, then this “EV” tax should also be targeting hybrids and PHEVs since they’re utilizing less gas too by being more efficient.
Removed by mod
Which sounds reasonable until you think about what costs we refuse to externalize (road repair) and which costs we happily externalize (pollution).
It’s an interesting discussion I’ve had with coworkers recently where there’s a strong sentiment with some people that renewable energy needs to stand on its own, but the same argument could be made for fossil fuels and needing to account for environmental damage in pricing. Subsidizing renewable energy (tax credits, avoiding gasoline tax, etc) is an indirect way to compensate for the externalized costs of fossil fuels, which wouldn’t be palatable or popular if done directly.
Money needs to come from somewhere for roads, but it’s very hard to decouple infrastructure funding concerns from environmental concerns since no one is willing to tackle the problem head on with something like a carbon tax.
Burning fossil fuels kills more than 250,000 people a year in the US. What is the value of a human life? Tax that shit before penalizing the non polluters.
The fact is that road maintenance is funded in part by a gas tax and we’re increasingly adding vehicles to the road that do not pay gas tax. The road maintenance is still there and I’m sure EV drivers will want it to be done as well. Go over to a /c/bicycles forum and ask them how willing they are to subsidize any road maintenance and you’ll figure out quickly why we do something akin to a “use tax” on roads using gasoline as a proxy.
Pay for your fucking pollution first and then maybe we’ll consider it.
Also, fuck off about bicycles. We’re saving you road maintenance costs by not being in a car! If everyone paid their fair share proportional to the amount of damage they do (which scales by the fourth power of vehicle weight) and cyclists were charged 1¢, car drivers would owe tens of thousands of dollars.
Your comment is entirely entitled, ignorant bullshit.
This is simply an attack on Republicans’ mortal enemy: environmentalists. It is nothing more. There are already EV road usage fees paid to states.
Why not tax on weight and milage. Then it doesn’t matter the type of engine you have or how efficient it is. Only how far you go and how much you damage the road as a result?
Agreed. Kill the gas tax, assess the fee on registration and record the mileage at that time.
It’s not a bad idea - though it does add the overhead of some new bureaucracy. Somebody will need to gather that data yearly. Maybe could be done as part of auto inspections though.
That’s what I’m thinking. They’re already doing inspections in most places or emissions tests, just add it as a line item.
Yeah - it “makes sense” but getting from logical to legislation is a bitch. People don’t like “new taxes” and working out the details would be tricky. Do you apply it to ICE automobiles as well? If so do you reduce the gas tax? If so you’ll be giving a potential benefit to gas guzzlers. etc.
You apply it to all vehicles. The intention of the gas tax was to help offset road maintenance. The biggest damage is based on weight and the more miles you drive, the more you cause that damage.
The efficiency of the engine isn’t at play here, if it was, then this “EV” tax should also be targeting hybrids and PHEVs since they’re utilizing less gas too by being more efficient.
They’re getting rid of gas tax now. What’s your excuse now?
My excuse for what?