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In Europe we have high taxes on fuels and CO2 emissions, but London and Paris still have worse air pollution than many US cities. Mostly because automakers focu

• jabl 10y ago
  Yes, and many European countries tax diesel less than gasoline. I think when these sorts of policies were enacted only heavy vehicles like trucks, buses and cars that were driven a lot (taxis, mostly) used diesel, and there was an extra yearly per-vehicle "diesel tax" that made buying a diesel car economically unfavorable unless you drove a lot. I think this sort-of ties into the political ideology where "luxury consumption" is bad. I.e. truckers transport Important Stuff(TM) and thus deserve a tax rebate on fuel, whereas a private person driving their own vehicle is bad, and should be discouraged. But, the world changed (or, lets say the balance between the different taxes, incomes etc.) and at some point it started to make economic sense for the average Joe to buy a diesel car instead of a gasoline one. But of course, changing the tax policy by getting rid of the diesel tax rebate runs into fierce opposition by the trucking/taxi/etc. lobby. So here we are.