Congress studies tax penalizing high fuel efficiency

Post #204,174 by tuberculosis 4/20/05 9:24:10 PM Reply	Congress studies tax penalizing high fuel efficiency [link\|http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/20/MNGA4CBJH81.DTL\|http://www.sfgate.co...0/MNGA4CBJH81.DTL] The federal tax man has an eye on those increasingly popular high- mileage vehicles, gas misers whose drivers love going further between fill-ups and saving on sky-high gas prices. The idea is simple but technologically daunting -- base gas taxes on miles driven instead of on gallons of fuel bought. And advocates say the reason for such a change is also simple -- although such fuel-efficient vehicles as hot-selling hybrids pay less in gas taxes, they're still out on the nation's roads contributing to congestion and wear and tear on an aging infrastructure. ------ This is so fucked up I am simply without words. "Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein "This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
Post #204,176 by boxley 4/20/05 9:28:36 PM Reply	develop a chip to roll back odometer on new cars All tribal myths are true, for a given value of "true" Terry Pratchett [link\|http://boxleys.blogspot.com/\|http://boxleys.blogspot.com/] Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 48 years. meep questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #204,222 by hnick 4/21/05 7:17:54 AM Reply	Time to build an empty lot on Oregon State University...
Post #204,260 by Andrew Grygus 4/21/05 10:40:34 AM Reply	Not a new concept. It's been around for years, but has a severe logical flaw. Fuel efficient vehicles are generally smaller and lighter, causing less wear on the infrastructure and less traffic conjestion than larger heavier vehicles. I'm sure this theory is promoted by and somehow financed by the auto industry, who's large heavy fuel guzzling SUVs are obscenely profitable because people stupid enough to buy an SUV are stupid enough to overpay for it. The Ford SUV factory is the most profitable manufacturing facility in the western world according to many reports. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #204,300 by a6l6e6x 4/21/05 3:03:48 PM Reply	An old statistic. Probably from the time cars weighed about 2 tons. A loaded semi (18 wheeler) causes 7000 times the road wear of a single car. It's obvioulsy not a simple linear function of weight. Alex The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell
Post #204,310 by scoenye 4/21/05 3:54:04 PM Reply	It's close to exponential You should see what damage an overloaded logging truck causes... Most of it is due to the visco-elastic nature of asphalt. Deform it enough and it comes to a point where it tears instead of rebounding when the load is removed. That kind of deformation is permanent. A car doesn't have the mass to cause that much displacement.
Post #204,341 by JayMehaffey 4/21/05 4:49:49 PM Reply	Which is why per axle fees are stupid also A lot of places charge trucks based on a fee per axle. Which makes truckers want to overload their trucks to keep their costs down. A ground pressure fee would be a lot better but it's a lot harder to figure then counting axles. Jay
Post #204,264 by JayMehaffey 4/21/05 10:53:45 AM Reply	Could be a good idea This could be a good idea if the rate per mile is accuratly adjusted for the amount of wear and tear done by the cars. What will probably happen is that the rate will be set at some high mininum rate plus a small adjustment based on vehicle size so that people with small cars will be subsidizing the wear and tear of those with big ones. Jay

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