As we reach the point where the number of fossil fuel burners no longer provides enough revenue, the structure will change once again.

But how will the road and bridge improvements be funded?

Tracking mileage by GPS is a possibility but then there are the exceptions that must be filed when you are transporting your vehicle across the US as many do when moving.

The final decision will most likely be a Personal Property Tax on all vehicles wheels.
So yes, a motor cycle would pay 2x, car 4x, box van 6x and so on. The electric cars will pay the same wear tax and the fossil burners will pay a fossil burner penalty in the tax that is already attached to the fuel they burn.

I am a contractor so the likelihood of me using an electric truck to pull my equipment is unlikely. I will be one of the many who will be hit with a double tax.

All of this would not be so bad but it is things like giving NASCAR a continuation of tax breaks for two more years that has me confused. Anyone aware that this was part of the 750 billion bailout other than me?

Why does a billion dollar industry need the money? It doesn’t but our congressmen would pass the bailout unless NASCAR was included.

Now this makes you wonder who is really getting the road and bridge revenue…?.

Why not just raise revenue from smart poeple like yourself who want to give away your money to the government. Just write a check and mail it in care of Obama, he’ll know what to do with it

Here’s a novel idea. How about we get our congress to use some common sense spending the money we already give the government, in particular, earmarks. Last year, our lawmakers sneaked in $18B that we never knew about, for pet projects and good buddy deals. That’s almost 40% of the $50B additional gas tax you are advocating. It makes no sense to throw good money after bad while the original problem is unresolved.

Also, in your argument, you don’t address the increase in costs of virtually everything we use every day that will result from your proposed gas tax increase. Just look at prices of everything since the first of this year for an example.

I have believed for years that the government either doesn’t care or doesn’t want to care how they spend because the mindset is, “there’s always more where that came from”. Well, I’m here to tell you that ain’t necessarily so. Time to get our heads out of our butts.

Quote “What if half of that ($50 billion) was explicitly earmarked for alternative and sustainable fuel/energy research?” The government can tell us that the extra tax will be used for fuel and energy research but that doesn’t mean they’ll do it. The money that the lottery generates is supposed to be used for schools, but it’s not. Only about 20% is.

Quote “This is a fair tax because it is essentially a pay as you use tax; the more fuel you use the more taxes you pay.” So is the sales tax. Why doesn’t the government increase that tax instead? Everyone has to buy fuel but not everyone has to buy a $3500 flat screen HDTV or a $350 million dollar house. The sales tax would also cover the “gas guzzlers”. They cost more than other cars so the sales tax would automatically be higher.

Quote “I think I explicitly point out that this would create a short-term crunch and would likely exacerbate the already fragile economic conditions.” This wouldn’t be a short-term crunch and our economy may not ever recover fully from something like this. Remember, when gas prices increase so does everything else. People are not driving as much, which means they are not going shopping as much or taking vacations as much or going to movies as much…etc, which means the companies that provide these services and products aren’t making as much, which means employees get less of a raise or laid off, which means (you guessed it) less spending. I’m sure by now you can see where this is going.

Quote “That’s still well under what most citizens of Western European countries pay, who, in some cases face nearly 20 percent fuel taxes.” I don’t live in Western Europe.

However, much of our current economic problems stem from the very fact that we live beyond our means, buying stuff we don’t need on money that we don’t have. In order for the economy to return to a healthy state, consumers do need to cut back and actually return to being net savers, not net spenders. We are a debt riddled society. That would be fine with the exception of one point – DEBT EVENTUALLY NEEDS TO BE REPAID. If you don’t have the money to do so, and simply borrow more debt to satisfy your current debt, you create an economy built on pillars of sand, not stone. Eventually it will crumble.

Also, much of our problems currently stem from a ridiculously weak dollar (read: inflation), much of which is caused by serious trade imbalances and government fiscal irresponsibility. The SINGLE largest factor in our trade imbalance is our consumption of foreign oil. If we shock the consumer into driving less, we will consume less oil (over 70% of all imported oil goes towards transportation fuels), and in turn will take steps towards balancing our import/export imbalance. The extra revenue generated by the tax will help balance the Federal Government’s balance sheet, hopefully reducing our record high deficits. Deficit spending is a bad, bad thing.

Not sure what you mean by raising taxes = job creation. I think the point I was making was that the stimulus package was a bad idea. It’s a short-term shot in the arm. It solves nothing. Instead of pumping out one-time checks, take that money and invest it in our country’s infrastructure. Rebuild crumbling bridges, fix up our interstate highways, improve mass transportation. Yes, while these create what you call “low level jobs” they do create jobs, which will have a much longer lasting effect than giving out $600 checks for people to blow on consumer goods.

Why haven’t you thought about the impact that would have on our ECONOMY. People driving less and paying more taxes equals less spending on consumer goods. That equals fewer profits for companies (even good ones), a tumbling stock market. Next what happens is that the companies will stop offering health insurance and 401k plans to their employees. Then what? Do all of you sit at home and read blogs all day or do you actually have a job?