In some ways, a tax break for buying a “green” car–either a hybrid or a rechargeable battery car is a tax break that aids the more affluent. People with lesser incomes can not afford a green car.
By the same token, a gas guzzler tax hurts those with less financial resources. Often, the price of a used gas guzzler is a bargain price. Years ago, Tom McCahill in his book “What You Should Know About Cars” reported that a 4 year old Cadillac and a 4 year old VW Beetle were worth the same amount even though the Cadillac cost three times as much new. This was back in the early 1960s. I would bet that the comparison today of a 4 year old Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic against four year old Ford Taurus or Chevrolet Impala might just have the same result.
“The only productive and unhypocritical thing I’ve ever seen Al Gore do is to prove beyond a doubt that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee is a purely political organization.”
I disagree, but not completely. I think that many awards are based on real work, but a few are not. The Peace Prize has certainly had its share of political awards, and perhaps none more politically motivated that the award to Pres. Obama for what he might do as president. Awards to the EU and UN are also suspect. Apparently you don’t share the same political agenda as the Nobel Committee. Since Gore’s award was for actual work, I can accept that he earned it. But not the others I mentioned. But give Pres. Obama credit for being as bewildered as all of us were when his award was announced. He did not ask for it.
Kinda agree. Can’t remember what year but think it was about 78. Wife was doing her advanced degree work at a university about 50 miles away and had to commute there regularly. It was during a gas crunch time anyway. So we went looking for a reasonably cheap small car. They were all so high priced, we ended up buying a 73 Lincoln Cont. for about $800. Needed some sprucing up but a good solid, comfortable, safe car. So less than half the price of a small car. Got $1000 for it on trade a few years later on my Olds diesel-shoulda kept the Lincoln.
Does a 250cc dual-sport dirtbike count as a “green vehicle”?
I received it as payment for moving an upright piano. I bet I can get 80 MPG easy…just as soon as I get it running! Granted, not as clean-running necessarily as a modern car…but for those focused on CO2, it crushes a Prius, and is affordable to working folk. (Funny how you don’t see motorcycles–or ANY used vehicles–lauded by the environmentalists)!
Yes, “WWAGD” was a reference to Al Gore. Per forum rules, I was doing my level best to NOT comment on the merits and/or lack thereof of his politics, merely taking him to task for the insincerity with which he practices what he preaches. I said previously that environmentalism, as currently practiced in the US, is laughably bourgeois and insincere…and I just “appreciate the irony” of Big Al being the poster boy…he is, unfortunately, an eminently appropriate choice.
(it’s too bad…I appreciate rugged land for rugged individualists, think the world has enough damn shopping malls already, and could really get behind the “green thing” if there were a wholesale change in leadership…a “Gear-head ecology,” if you will.)
Does a 250cc dual-sport dirtbike count as a "green vehicle"?
Only if it's a Kawasaki, if it's a Honda, it's likely going to be a red vehicle.
The Ninja 300 will get 70 mpg if you stay off the freeway and drive like a grownup. I have gotten 80 mpg on one tank and came close to 80 several other times.
But in addition to being frugal with the gas, only 377 pounds of “stuff” had to be mined and processed in order to build it and when it’s worn out, only 377 pounds of stuff will have to be recycled or disposed of.
I better shut up now before I contribute to the dense cloud of smug that hangs over the Prius traffic jam where I live. Maybe there’s a market for “I’m better than you” bumper stickers for these cars.
I read an article in our local newspaper about owners of the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt and other such vehicles who have solar collectors on the roof of their houses and are able to drive their vehicles for no expenses for energy. Even owners who do not have solar panels run their vehicles at a reduced energy cost and are not paying the tax added to gasoline and diesel fuel that presumably is used to maintain roads.
I have been trying to think of a solution to replace the fuel tax on fuel used for transportation. I suppose houses could be equipped with three phase power. The chargers supplied with the vehicles could be operated at 277 volts from one phase and that power be run through a meter and the road tax be charged for that power while the rest of the electrical power used in the house would go through a separate meter and not be taxed. I am afraid that there would be cheating if the chargers were on a separate meter, but operated on the single phase 120 or 240 volts, even if the power for the chargers was metered. I do know that many farmers in my area had fuel tanks and kept a log on how much fuel went into the field equipment (tractors, combines, etc.) and how much fuel went into road vehicles. The farmers operated on the honor system, but I am afraid the general public might not be so honest.
@texases
Sorry, most Prius drivers I know just like their cars. No smug included.
It was a joke!!!
Find the Southpark “Smug Alert” episode and watch it, I think it’s on YouTube. I never laughed so hard.
You too can master smug-speak. You end each sentence with a rising inflection like you are asking a question but you are actually making a statement.
The Minnesota DOT folks were talking about a mileage tax. Moving us closed to 1984 on how they would implement it. If I remember right (not write), poll stations like toll ways, collecting mileage information from the cars or tax paid at license time, etc. There are lots of goof balls in DOT wearing pocket protectors. All they have to do is assess an annual fee for electric/hybrid vehicles when they renew their licenses to account for the road use. Of course that would be counter-productive to the government incentives to buy one. Plus just raise the stinking tax a little to continue to bring in the revenue needed as cars get better MPG. Of course then there are those that oppose that too and don’t care if we drive on gravel or not.
Like I said before, the bureaucrats in the agencies are the dangerous ones, and often lead the legislators in a direction we shouldn’t go. That’s why we elect legislators to make decisions but too often they rely on the “experts” instead of their own common sense.
I think that it is productive to just tax hybrid drivers for the gas they use and not pile taxes onto them, and the same goes for electric vehicles. Any increase in gasoline taxes needed to fund road construction and repair should not include a two tiered tax system. Maybe one day that might make sense, but I don’t thin it has arrived yet.
“The Minnesota DOT folks were talking about a mileage tax. Moving us closed to 1984 on how they would implement it.”
Did they buy the Way Back Machine from Mr. Peabody?
Yeah, didn’t think it was worth clarifying. He’s probably too young to remember the book or movie and what it stood for in the elimination of free movement and thought.
