3 ms·
Instead of taxing fuel, governments should tax mileage * weight (or perhaps mileage * weight^alpha for some alpha...)
by cozzyd 4y ago
Instead of taxing fuel, governments should tax mileage * weight (or perhaps mileage * weight^alpha for some alpha...)
- hackernewds 4y agoWhy? Truck seamlessly and scalably move cargo for thousands of customers at once. Distributing that to hundreds of smaller trucks for tax efficiency would be worse for the env
- cozzyd 4y agoIt wouldn't make sense to distribute to smaller trucks for tax efficiency when considering the cost of the extra trucks, drivers, and loading/unloading. And besides, trucks already pay more in fuel tax. A mileage tax is going to be a necessity with electrification in the future, and it doesn't make sense for all weight-classes to pay the same tax as they don't do equal damage to roads.
- thecopy 4y ago>equal damage to roads. That's an understatement. Afaik damage to the road scales with weight to the _FOURTH_ power.
- seanmcdirmid 4y agoDon’t wheels and weight distribution have something to do with this? Otherwise this property would be really easy to game.
- cozzyd 4y agoyeah I think the power law is on axle load
- dontlaugh 4y agoNeither compares in efficiency to trains.
- replygirl 4y agotrains
- parineum 4y agoHere's a radical idea... don't tax either. Adding a disincentive creates an unpredictable incentive. Just add an incentive to the thing you actually want and be done with it.
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago> add an incentive to the thing you actually want and be done with it Doing both lets those causing the harm to subsidise those providing the solution. Finding everything out of general revenue means taking public-transport riding city folks’ funds to pay for suburbanites’ electric SUVs.
- parineum 4y ago> Finding everything out of general revenue means taking public-transport riding city folks’ funds to pay for suburbanites’ electric SUVs. That's how government works. Everybody pays for things that the majority agrees are good for the people. It's not like a gas tax doesn't cost those public-transport riding city fold money. A gas tax increased the price of everything that uses gas, from the bus they ride in to every single product they purchase. They're subsidizing those electric SUVs either way, it's just hidden from them, which is how politicians like it.
- cozzyd 4y agoEven small cars should be disincentivized relative to bikes/trains. Just less so than large cars...