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Lately folks are worried about how to fund the roads with electric vehicles. Of course, there are very few EVs on the road… yet. They’re talking about some onerous taxes with privacy implications. Tax mileage, so you would have to take your car to the DMV every year, or worse, attach a device that always lets the state and federal government know where you are. Law enforcement and the NSA love that idea.
But I say do away with road taxes altogether. Before the 20th century, neither the state nor federal governments built roads. Many of the larger cities did, but not states; roads aren’t necessary for horses and wagons. The first drivers of autos bought gasoline in five gallon cans from hardware stores.
By the 1920s states had started paving roads, and in 1919 Oregon instituted the first gasoline tax, one cent per gallon. In 1919, few people had autos and most goods were still transported by water, rail, and horse drawn wagons. It made perfect sense that those who needed roads should pay for them; why should horse owners, whose steeds were expensive enough, have to pay to provide roads for the rich with cars? In Vachel Lindsay’s 1920 book The Golden Book of Springfield about the year 2018, cars and airplanes were still toys for the rich.
But the real 2018 was nothing like Lindsay’s 2018. Today, horses are toys for the rich, and cars, buses, and trucks haul the goods and people. Everyone needs the roads and highways today. What’s more, commerce does almost all damage to roads, why should automobile drivers have to pay for them?
The states and the federal government should just let gas taxes slide, and fix the roads with the same funds used to fund everything else. Just keep the gas tax to nudge people towards electric vehicles. Gasoline and its exhaust stinks, especially with a poorly tuned engine. The sooner gasoline and diesel are gone, the better.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday December 01 2021, @06:50PM (13 children)
Make it proportional to the vehicle weight. And also make the state provide no fault insurance, just for good measure
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday December 01 2021, @06:53PM (7 children)
Oops, forgot. You have to take you car in to pass safety inspections anyway. They can read your odometer then, if they want to tax you by the mile
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday December 02 2021, @03:29PM (6 children)
No smog or safety inspections here, although they do up in the Chicago area and down in the St. Louis area, but those inspections are unneeded for an EV.
But the whole point is to stop the motor tax! Only auto owners needed roads in 1900, everyone uses roads in 2000.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Thursday December 02 2021, @06:57PM (1 child)
In that case just take the money from the general fund. Let's not pretend they don't have enough to cover all the bases. Otherwise mileage and vehicle weight are perfectly fair metrics, no matter if your motor is a slant six or a General Electric
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday December 04 2021, @03:47PM
FINALLY someone actually got the point!
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday December 02 2021, @07:04PM (3 children)
Oops, sorry, but I forgot to add that EVs will still need safety inspections, at least I would hope so if they want to operate on public roads.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday December 04 2021, @03:45PM (1 child)
Illinois has no safety inspections and never has.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday December 04 2021, @05:40PM
:-) Never too soon to start
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 07 2021, @05:27PM
The corruption inherent in vehicle inspections have prompted some states to just stop inspecting. Yeah, unsafe vehicles go out onto the roads, but not as many as you might think. It seems that few people are willing to ride in unsafe vehicles, and those who might be willing aren't willing to be the liable party when an accident happens.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 01 2021, @08:48PM (2 children)
Let's all just move to Mars. Cars are lighter, the roads aren't crowded, and the place is full of gas. And, apparently, hookers.
(Score: 3, Informative) by mcgrew on Thursday December 02 2021, @03:33PM (1 child)
The hookers won't be there for a couple hundred years, and they're only going for drug rehab.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @05:39PM
That's no way to encourage immigration.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @03:04AM (1 child)
> proportional to the vehicle weight
Road damage is modeled by weight on the tire(s) to the 4th or 5th power. Loaded trucks do nearly all the road damage. And OVER-loaded trucks really wreck the roads.
(Score: 2, Informative) by fustakrakich on Thursday December 02 2021, @03:38AM
You tax by gross vehicle weight rating
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..