4 ms·

My fuel tax is called a “CO2 tax” (and VAT) which together is around half the cost, or about $1/L or $3.8/gal. This isn’t earmarked for anything in particular b

My fuel tax is called a “CO2 tax” (and VAT) which together is around half the cost, or about $1/L or $3.8/gal. This isn’t earmarked for anything in particular but I think the naming “CO2 tax” smells a bit like a sin/environment tax. And it’s strange I pay more of this “CO2 tax” when filling up my car to drive 10h, perhaps $50 in CO2 tax alone, than all 100 of us in the cabin of a 737 pay together when taking one hour flight the same distance. My my car tax ($1.5k/yr regardless of distance driven) sounds more like a road maintenance fee collection but also not earmarked for any purpose. I suspect this latter tax will need to skyrocket for EVs once fuel doesn’t bring in enough road maintenance money. A bus is an example of a “better” method of transportation that uses taxed fuel and has to compete with planes flying on tax free fuel.

maccard 4y ago
> And it’s strange I pay more of this “CO2 tax” when filling up my car to drive 10h, perhaps $50 in CO2 tax alone, than all 100 of us in the cabin of a 737 pay together when taking one hour flight the same distance. It's interesting that you make that comparison. Inverness to London fits that definition and from the last time I checked this,it's about 0.12 Tonnes of CO2 per seat to fly that distance, and roughly the same (actually slightly more) to drive the distance. For long distances like that, particularly if you're travelling in a small group, you're often better off flying over driving.
- alkonaut 4y ago
  Greenhouse gasses are worse at altitude though so my car emitting 1T CO2 at ground level is better than the plane doing it at 10km. But regardless the point still stands: why is that 0.12 ton CO2 tax exempt in the plane but not in the car?
  - kadoban 4y ago
    Is that true? Seems like it would diffuse quite quickly in the scheme of things.
  - jefftk 4y ago
    This is true, but that's usually why people talk about "CO2e", emissions equivalent to emitting a ton of CO2 at ground level. When people talk about the climate effective air travel, that's usually the units they're using. https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/tool/definitions/co2e.html https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/tool/defini...
- prennert 4y ago
  Would a small group not make ground-based travel (depending on size, car/minibus/Bus/train) better than flying? Adding additional passengers to a car does increase the CO2 emissions not as much as putting a new car on the road for every single traveller, right?

maccard 4y ago

> And it’s strange I pay more of this “CO2 tax” when filling up my car to drive 10h, perhaps $50 in CO2 tax alone, than all 100 of us in the cabin of a 737 pay together when taking one hour flight the same distance. It's interesting that you make that comparison. Inverness to London fits that definition and from the last time I checked this,it's about 0.12 Tonnes of CO2 per seat to fly that distance, and roughly the same (actually slightly more) to drive the distance. For long distances like that, particularly if you're travelling in a small group, you're often better off flying over driving.

alkonaut 4y ago
Greenhouse gasses are worse at altitude though so my car emitting 1T CO2 at ground level is better than the plane doing it at 10km. But regardless the point still stands: why is that 0.12 ton CO2 tax exempt in the plane but not in the car?
- kadoban 4y ago
  Is that true? Seems like it would diffuse quite quickly in the scheme of things.
- jefftk 4y ago
  This is true, but that's usually why people talk about "CO2e", emissions equivalent to emitting a ton of CO2 at ground level. When people talk about the climate effective air travel, that's usually the units they're using. https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/tool/definitions/co2e.html https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/tool/defini...
prennert 4y ago
Would a small group not make ground-based travel (depending on size, car/minibus/Bus/train) better than flying? Adding additional passengers to a car does increase the CO2 emissions not as much as putting a new car on the road for every single traveller, right?