Proposed federal yearly fee for Hybrids

[Suzukiridr14]

Make ALL roads and streets toll roads via a tracker. The second you leave your driveway or parking lot you pay by the mile. Now to cover the overhead, collections, devices instead of $100 per year it will be, and we are eliminating the penny so round up to the nearest 5 cent amount, at 0.001/mile you will pay $100 per 1000 miles. Sound good?

They say the average driver, drives 12K a year. That would mean $1200 in addition to pay! Better come up with a better plan.

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[The Real Maverick]

Tire retreading would become a huge business. Already is for commercial trucks, but for cars it would take off.

I don't know why you'd think so.
I don't even know of any passenger and light duty tires that can be "retreaded". The rubber goes bad in about 6 years.

This won't be a thing. And even if someone tries, the refurbished tires would be taxed too. No loopholes for you my friend.

 

[The Real Maverick]

I was being facetious. Bitcoin? Fool's gold. Less government = more freedom. Just pay a flat yearly fee and don't give them ideas to take more.

Like my flat fee you pay once every ~40,000 miles you chose not to read about.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I was being facetious. Bitcoin? Fool's gold. Less government = more freedom. Just pay a flat yearly fee and don't give them ideas to take more.

I was extending your example. As far as Bitcoin: A good example of any currency including the US $ that if there was LIMIT on the total number THEM (Never raising the debt ceiling) the value of each of THEM would increase in relative value resulting in the need to mint ever smaller divisions for daily commerce. so both are "fools gold", so to speak. Would be interesting to see workers striking for less of a pay cut than managements offer.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I don't know why you'd think so.
I don't even know of any passenger and light duty tires that can be "retreaded". The rubber goes bad in about 6 years.

This won't be a thing. And even if someone tries, the refurbished tires would be taxed too. No loopholes for you my friend.

He's thinking of "DIY/BLACK MARKET" retreading.

 

[The Real Maverick]

Based on your absurd idea a set of 4 has $1600 tax on them. I guarantee tire thefts will increase just like catalytic converter thefts. NYC put a hugh tax on cigarettes and it created a crime ring to subvert the tax. Same thing will happen.

Don't be so narrow minded.

At 50,000 miles and 25 MPG you'd pay about $400 to the feds currently.

But if gas tax goes away (since some people aka EV drivers don't buy any) you gotta throw in something for local roads too. This is usually about 2x the federal rate, with a few states being 3x.

So really, YOU and I ARE CURRENTLY paying about $1200 to $1600 every 50,000 miles in taxes. Currently.

For a few that's every 1 year.
For a few that's every 10 years.
For most, that's about every 5 years.

No more cost than the current system.
It is much more fair / equitable across the board.
It is pay in advance, just like lots of things in life. Sure. Some people won't like it. But it is fair.

For those that choose not to read, the process should be "prorated" fees on damaged tires with treadlife remaining. Turn in your damaged "core" and get a discount on the replacement. Core charges are nothing new.

If you sell your car; you will have added value in the tires, that will boost resale price. Just like if you sell a car with new tires now.

 

[The Real Maverick]

P.S. half the population finances their phones. If you have to finance your tires. So be it. Not a stretch of the imagination at all!

 

[zen_]

Make ALL roads and streets toll roads via a tracker. The second you leave your driveway or parking lot you pay by the mile. Now to cover the overhead, collections, devices instead of $100 per year it will be, and we are eliminating the penny so round up to the nearest 5 cent amount, at 0.001/mile you will pay $100 per 1000 miles. Sound good?

Those numbers are kinda arbitrary to skew the fixed fee in a more favorable way.

Bottom line is someone has to pay for the roads, otherwise we end up with roads that are in total disrepair ($) or no roads ($$$) that we all end up paying for in wear and tear, accidents, and / or loss of commerce.

I did some math, and in Nebraska with a 30.4 cent state + 18.4 cent federal tax, at around 10,000 miles / year of driving @ 38 MPG (close guess for me), that's 263 gallons of fuel with $128.34 in fuel taxes. Someone driving a 10 year old RAV4 may get 24 MPG average, and pay $203.33 in taxes at the same yearly mileage. In that example, the $100 fee for the hybrid is more or less fair.

In Nebraska (and other states) though, we have this wonderful system of taxing vehicles by age for registration on a scale by MSRP, so newer, more expensive vehicles end up costing a small fortune to register every year. Factoring in those cost, the older, less fuel efficient vehicle pays way less in taxes ($500 my first year, takes 15 years to slide down to $0).

This starts to get into a morass of state taxes, and what the federal government should be incentivizing for new vehicle purchases, though. As before, the actual road use tax (mileage and weight) is the the most fair, but tracking it with a GPS device is a total non-starter, and yearly odometer checks would open the door to all kinds of fraud beyond what we already have.

 

[HeyBales]

For the tire tax - this would also eventually cause outlandish claims for tire life miles, which would now cause a tax difference, to get in line with reality I'd think, after complaints.

Or I guess current pro-rated mileage warranty (is that actually still a thing near end of life?), would give a little of the tax back to be applied to the next set being gotten.

Usually I've nailed a tire in the wrong spot to require a new at least set of two.

Or like my mom - so few driven miles and get the tire rot long before warranty miles.
That's hitting the years now - so not pro-rated.
So now a full set of taxes on new set of tires and never used the last ones for that many miles.

Or would 20K mile tires that are decent become more commonplace for infrequent drivers?

Yes, I know edge cases.

 

[The Real Maverick]

There are a variety of tires to choose from today.

Street Legal "Performance Racing Tires" may last 3,000 to 6,000 miles. (Soft & Sticky)

High Performance touring "all season" tires can be warranted for 90,000 miles.
(Firm, tough, low rolling resistance)

All season tires average 50k
All Terrain Tires 42-48k
Mud & Snow Tires 32-40k

Pick your favorite.
Of course there are low and high models in each category.

You can buy a cheap-o all season tire rated as low as 20k miles.

Lower rating = lower taxes at time of sale. A super expensive racing tire may have low taxes due to low mileage.

 

[Pigeonman]

Gotta disagree. What it does is penalized efficiency when we should be taxing inefficiency. Best way would be a mileage tax, something more technologically feasible now than when usage taxation for transportation was first adopted.

As it would depend on accurate reporting of distance traveled, most Americans would resist their odometer being read by governmental agencies.

Mileage tax would be fairer.

 

[Pigeonman]

one would think that reducing dependence on gasoline is a good goal, but when the sound bites include the words "beautiful clean coal" don't expect much out of the desire to use less fossil fuel. I understand we don't want to be political , but you have to pay for tax cuts for billionaires somehow.

Right on!!!

 

[The Real Maverick]

Tires are consumable based on miles driven. And all vehicles have them.

Until we have "solid" tires or non-rubber based tires, taxing tires is a way to charge more to people who drive more vs. those who don't.

If you don't like that, then a one time tax, maybe based on vehixle weight should be collected at time of sale.

$1 per pound is a good starting point.
Then you can finance it along with your vehicle at time of sale. That would be "equity" in your vehicle prorated if you sell it within say 150,000 miles.

 

[Jah.]

Gas tax is mileage tax . the more you use the more tax you pay .
It's interesting that the more efficient you are the more you pay. (Example) my city pushed water efficiency for years but raised the rates because customers weren't using enough .

 

[EffNo50]

Tax Tires!

This is so easy. Tax Tires.

Fair for everyone. At least standardized.

Tax a 40,000 mile tire $400.
Tax a 70,000 mile tire $700.

Governments will love the pay in advance model. Trucks with more weight have more tires so naturally pay more.

This gets the fuel type, or lack of fuel out of the equation.

This is a tax per mile model WITHOUT big brother watching your every move. An no reporting or tracking.

If you have tire damage early on, you get a pro-rated tax on the next set. Easy.

This seems entirely too logical for the government to use.

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