What do all you CA drivers think of this plan?

[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 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

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).

[Morrigoon]

Aren't we taxed enough?

[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.

[Ghoulish Delight]

What we HAVE is a gas on tax, and that's what it should be. Gas is the commodity.

[Ghoulish Delight]

No, it's a replacement of the gas tax, that's the whole point.

[Darkbeer]

Much of government's rules regarding taxes is "social engineering"... Why are some things, such as mortgage interest tax deductible? To promote building houses... Why are Capital Gains taxes lower, to promote investment in the economy, and even further, the longer you hold onto the investment, the lower the tax. Have children, we want new citizens to help pay future taxes, so tax breaks for those folks. Newer tax breaks, deductions and credits for education, as the government want smarter workers, since the "basic labor" jobs are going oversees...

Same with the gasoline tax... Buy a car that pollutes less, uses less natural resources (aka gasoline), pay less in taxes.... This new proposal just cancels all the effort placed to get folks to use public transit and smaller cars, plus things like hybrids....

Just plain DUMB!!!!!