Quote:
Originally Posted by ForcedInduction
Its about time. I've been wondering why the states have not tapped them for tax dough for so long.
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3 points to make:
1) We all need to share in paying for our roads, but we need a new way. Taxing fuel worked previously because everybody had to stop at a retail pump to get their fuel. Just like napster forced music publishers and artists to stop crying about the internet downloads that don't pay royalties, and find a new way to get your money. Kids don't go to record stores anymore, so find a new way to get your money. Stop crying that a veg oil burner didn't pay his road tax and find a new way to get your money. How about, at the yearly car inspections that most states have, multiply odometer reading since last inspection times the GVW, and send a corresponding tax bill. Eliminate the fuel taxes. That way everyone pays according to road use and the corresponding burden they put on that road. Find a new way to get your money.
2) Road tax is unrelated to fixing roads. Here in Mass, the Mass Pike has long been paid for, and tolls more than cover ongoing maintenance. Proposals to reduce or eliminate tolls at certain areas have come up on occasion, always to get shot down, and the latest one was shot down by our new governor because there would be "too much revenue lost." Those were his words. No mention of it hurting road maintenance, that has nothing to do with it. The argument that an alternative-fuel-user is trying to get out of road tax and that's the only reason they're doing it is a pretty hollow argument. I use alternative fuels to get off foreign oil dependency. If alternatives get more expensive than petroleum, I'll still use them, and then begin a new search for cheaper alternatives yet that are not petroleum, I will not throw in the towel and revert back to petroleum.
3) I'm baffled that the tone of several posts from Forced is that "Diesel Benzes were designed for diesel and no other fuels should be considered" (to paraphrase). Yet his signature is full of mods, up to and including Methanol injection. Does anyone else see the irony?