What do all you CA drivers think of this plan?

[Darkbeer]

^That is the problem, as folks have switched to more fuel efficient vehicles, the amount of the gas tax has gone down... and the government doesn't like it...

The new system actually shifts taxes away from the gas guzzlers such as SUV's, and places more of the burden on the fuel efficient cars, including the hybrids and electric cars, since you will be paying per mile, instead of per tank.

It is stupid, what government needs to do is actually spend the money collected on the gas tax on transportation, instead of switching it to the general fund to pay for other government programs.

Gas Tax, DMV registration and license fees should go straight to the Transportation budget (and pay for the DMV). Let the state and local governments take the regular sales tax charged on gasoline for the general budget.

If this happened, we would NOT need this silly new proposal....

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Darkbeer

The new system actually shifts taxes away from the gas guzzlers such as SUV's, and places more of the burden on the fuel efficient cars, including the hybrids and electric cars, since you will be paying per mile, instead of per tank.

I don't follow you on that one. This would seem to be a flat tax. If you drive 1,000 miles in your SUV or 1,000 miles in your hybrid you pay the same tax. How is that placing more of a burden on hybrids?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

I don't follow you on that one. This would seem to be a flat tax. If you drive 1,000 miles in your SUV or 1,000 miles in your hybrid you pay the same tax. How is that placing more of a burden on hybrids?

But look at it from a gas use perspective. "Mileage" isn't a commodity. Gas is. So an SUV driver who uses more gas per mile will be paying less tax per gallon. That will be a dramatic shift in the tax burden.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

But look at it from a gas use perspective. "Mileage" isn't a commodity. Gas is. So an SUV driver who uses more gas per mile will be paying less tax per gallon. That will be a dramatic shift in the tax burden.

You might just as well argue that people that eat more apples are taxed more/apple. It's a usage tax. The more you use the service the more you pay. It replaces a tax that was unevenly applied to the people of California.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

You might just as well argue that people that eat more apples are taxed more/apple. It's a usage tax. The more you use the service the more you pay. It replaces a tax that was unevenly applied to the people of California.

Umm, no. People who eat more apples are taxed the SAME ammount per apple. That's the point of taxing per apple. They pay more gross, because they use more. With the mileage, they aren't paying per gallon. Go look at Darkbeer's example.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Umm, no. People who eat more apples are taxed the SAME ammount per apple. That's the point of taxing per apple. They pay more gross, because they use more. With the mileage, they aren't paying per gallon. Go look at Darkbeer's example.

That would be true if this were a tax on gas. It's not. It's a tax on people that eat apples (or in this case cause wear on the roads).

[Darkbeer]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

I don't follow you on that one. This would seem to be a flat tax. If you drive 1,000 miles in your SUV or 1,000 miles in your hybrid you pay the same tax. How is that placing more of a burden on hybrids?

Ok, we have a SUV that gets 10 miles to a gallon, and a Hybrid that gets 50 miles to a gallon (rounded for math sake)...

Let's look at the current taxes..

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/st...tate_2002.html

I am going to make this easy and round the 50.4 cents to 50 cents (out of which the state gets 32 cents), plus of course sales tax...

Each vehicle goes 1,000 miles....

The SUV would need to buy 100 gallons to go 1,000 miles, which would create $50 in tax revenue. (plus sales tax)

The Hybrid would need to buy 20 gallons, which would create $10 in tax revenue. (plus sales tax).

So right now, in this example, an SUV pays 5 times the amount of road tax as does the Hybrid.

The new proposal removes the gas tax, and replaces it with a "per mile" tax, let's say 5 cents a mile...

Now BOTH the SUV and the Hybrid pay $50 per 1,000 miles, a $40 increase to the Hybrid driver, while the SUV driver pays the same amount (of course, prior to the Peak hour extra tax)..... (Remember, this program is designed to increase tax revenues...

Basically the government would be making a lot more money, Hybrids will be paying a lot more, those who drive fuel efficient cars such as most compact and Mid-size cars (about 25 to 30 mpg), their tax goes up about 3 times....

Basically this proposal shifts the tax back to those folks who have been doing the things the government wants, which is to cut polution and gasoline usage...

Just plain DUMB!!!!!!

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Darkbeer

Ok, we have a SUV that gets 10 miles to a gallon, and a Hybrid that gets 50 miles to a gallon (rounded for math sake)...

Let's look at the current taxes..

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/st...tate_2002.html

I am going to make this easy and round the 50.4 cents to 50 cents (out of which the state gets 32 cents), plus of course sales tax...

Each vehicle goes 1,000 miles....

The SUV would need to buy 100 gallons to go 1,000 miles, which would create $50 in tax revenue. (plus sales tax)

The Hybrid would need to buy 20 gallons, which would create $10 in tax revenue. (plus sales tax).

So right now, in this example, an SUV pays 5 times the amount of road tax as does the Hybrid.

The new proposal removes the gas tax, and replaces it with a "per mile" tax, let's say 5 cents a mile...

Now BOTH the SUV and the Hybrid pay $50 per 1,000 miles, a $40 increase to the Hybrid driver, while the SUV driver pays the same amount (of course, prior to the Peak hour extra tax)..... (Remember, this program is designed to increase tax revenues...

Basically the government would be making a lot more money, Hybrids will be paying a lot more, those who drive fuel efficient cars such as most compact and Mid-size cars (about 25 to 30 mpg), their tax goes up about 3 times....

Basically this proposal shifts the tax back to those folks who have been doing the things the government wants, which is to cut polution and gasoline usage...

Just plain DUMB!!!!!!

Or from the other point of view... It stops unfairly taxing one segment of the population and evenly divides the tax among all drivers. Still sounds fair to me.


By the way, I forget. What type of car does your Governor drive?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

Or from the other point of view... It stops unfairly taxing one segment of the population and evenly divides the tax among all drivers. Still sounds fair to me.


By the way, I forget. What type of car does your Governor drive?

How is taxing people based on what they use unfair? Again, GAS is the commodity, not mileage.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

How is taxing people based on what they use unfair? Again, GAS is the commodity, not mileage.

Ps. Don't worry too much. I doubt this is a REPLACEMENT to the gas tax. It's an ADDATION to the gas tax. SUV's will still pay more and so will hybrids. Right now hybrid drivers are not paying their fair share. Under this new plan they would.