On this week’s Car Talk, Ray had a modest little proposal: a graduated gasoline tax. Starting this year, Ray wants a 50-cent a year increase in the gas tax, until, after six years, we’ll be paying another $3 per gallon. Why? Because Ray thinks it’s high time we started conserving oil. …

By calling it a “modest proposal” are you comparing this idea to Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”? If so, you should consider that Swift was using satire. He didn’t really think the English landlords should eat Irish babies. He was simply trying to demonstrate that if the English landlords we…

Government should NEVER have the right to control any part of the economy.

If the goal is to stretch our available fuel supplies, I don’t know if adding cash to our government’s coffers is the way to do it. I agree that adding to the cost of the fuel at the pump will encourage people to use less, or find more economical ways to use fuel. My concern would be where the mon…

Ray might be able to afford $6+ for a gallon of gas. I can’t. I already work at home and my husband’s commute is only 5 miles one way, which is lower than most people’s commutes that we know. If gas gets that expensive it’s going to hurt the economy because only the wealthy will be able to afford…

Sure, go right ahead, tax gasoline more. As I zoom buy in my 29mpg Jeep diesel, I laugh, evilly.

This isn’t what I’d call a “graduated” tax where the more you consume the higher rate you pay. It is a tax that is phased in. If I had any faith that the tax would be used wisely to create alternative transportation, I’d go for it, but I am skeptical.

Ray: Get real. I hope your children don’t grow up to be Dimocrats too.

I'm told that today Illinois and its counties and cities have the highest gas taxes in the U.S. Something close to a dollar/gallon is tax. With ALL the technology existing since the beginning of the Space Program (I remember the gas turbine engine came out around 1955!) America's dinosaur car maker…

As I recall, the guy who invented the internet proposed this and ended up playing second fiddle to Slick Willie. I thought it was a good idea then, and I think it is now. The only issue I have is that I would want the money to fund development of alternative-fuel transportation systems, and a cash…

Ray's Modest Proposal: A Graduated Gasoline Tax

The Show

stevenhs May 29, 2007, 11:29pm 9

Why is that?

Topic		Replies	Views
Ray's Gas Tax Rant Maintenance/Repairs steering	269	10435	May 10, 2011
New Fuel Tax Suggestion Maintenance/Repairs	164	1341	March 24, 2008
Old Fuel Tax Suggestion Maintenance/Repairs	108	1182	March 27, 2008
Gas Tax Idea is Good! Power/Fuel gasoline	23	1930	December 24, 2008
Would eliminating the fuel tax do more to decrease carbon emissions than raising it? General Discussion	100	3890	August 10, 2021

Ray's Modest Proposal: A Graduated Gasoline Tax

Related topics