Comments on: Electric Cars and the Future of the Gas Tax

By: Barry

Barry — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:39:14 +0000

While its not a klong-term solution as the fleet inevitably becomes more elecrified, raising the gas tax now should be a priority to adequately fund road repair, active transportation, and transit. It correctly sends a price signal to reduce driving and get an efficient vehicle, which expressway use tolls and “value added” taxes do not.
The problems with the gas tax are that it hasn’t been indexed for inflation, (so since 1993 when last raised, it has lost so much purchasing power) and that spineless politicians have been scared off from raising it by the anti-tax fanatics who care little what happens to our infrastructure.

By: Alexei

Alexei — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:59:31 +0000

I don’t understand why people support a VMT. Way I see it, it’s similar to a gas tax– the difference being that it’s cheaper for gas-guzzlers and a lot more expensive for economy cars. Is that really what we want? (Personally I’m in favor of a percentage gas tax which is significantly higher than what we have now. If the regressive nature of the tax is a worry, give back the extra money raised as a tax credit or something. I think this will do more to promote alternative fuels and efficient vehicles than any number of mileage standards and cash for clunkers programs.)

By: Lee Haber

Lee Haber — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:06:54 +0000

I think the big elephant in the room that isn’t going to go away until it’s fed is nationwide road-pricing (or VMT as you like to call it in the States). The Obama administration has said no to it, yet they are also against a gas tax increase – they are really painting transportation infrastructure into a corner.

By: mattotoole

mattotoole — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:23:00 +0000

One if the biggest mistakes we ever made was a flat rate, cents-per-gallon fuel tax. So as fuel prices rise, people buy less and tax revenues fall. This is why our HWY depts. are in the mess they’re in now.