It's always a tough call to figure out how government spends it's money. Every department would LOVE to have an infinite budget.
I guess I've just grown unbelievably cynical about the government constantly crying they don't enough money then seeing first hand they waste it instead of trying ......just a little...to do more with less. I don't trust them anymore. Not that I trust private industry more, Just that govt constantly cry wolf in order to get more funding so they don't have to economize. As far as road mileage tax is concerned, The truth is most of the road infrastructure is tremendously overbuilt for just cars and is built very strong for 105,000 lb trucks and not 3000 lb automobiles. That is why roads cost so much. However the trucking industry is very competitive and would fight like crazy to avoid paying a penny more. But the reason they are constantly trying to get bigger trucks on the road is because the rail industry is ridiculously lost in the 19th century and they are so inbred they don't even want to deal with ainything less than a complete freight car. For an exercise in frustration, try shipping a 400 lb item via rail. It's near impossible unless you own a sawmill, coal field, or oil refinery. These people don't even know what competition is anymore. Ergo, bigger and bigger trucks, ergo more expensive roads and bridges, ergo trying to stick the bill onto the average taxpayer....then on down the food chain to the poor EV driver. God forbid we would have decent rail transportation instead of constantly raising the weight limit for trucks over and over, but asking for sanity appears to be insane. As weird as it sounds, IMHO the answer to the road tax is improved intercity rail freight. My two ...(non fuel tax) cents anyway. On Tuesday, June 24, 2014 7:02 PM, Michael Ross via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: Increased trucking costs would be shared by all, operators in lower pay or pay increases, owners and stockholders in higher cost and lower margins, and consumers in higher end cost and shipping cost, or taxpayers pay after the fact when the infrastructure is already deteriorated instead of kept well. But roads need care. I suppose the last point of taxation makes the least sense to me - as a general tax. It seems just fine to me that it is spread around among many as we all benefit and so need to cover the cost of road building to some extent. It is a distortion to lay it all at the feet of one participant or another whoever has the least clout. I am not saying I know an answer, but I think a road use tax of some sort is perhaps less of a distortion. Maybe the point of greatest clout is where the tax should go - they would be in more of a position so require that the money be used well. However, this troubles me because I think the owners and shareholders care the least about the infrastructure. Influence almost always makes for a way to get more money, but not to spread it around Anyway we all like to quibble about this, and I wish we would move along quickly rather than dither over it. It probably works out one way or another. On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 8:49 PM, Willie2 via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > On 06/24/2014 06:57 PM, Dennis Miles via EV wrote: > >> The gas tax was effective many years ago. It is insufficient now. Electric >> cars are only a fraction of one percent of the vehicles on the roads. A >> simple survey of the patterns of damaged paving on our roads will >> demonstrate that automobiles are not damaging our streets. The roads are >> damaged by heavy trucks. The automobiles, whether ICE, EV or hybrid, >> should >> not be singled out for road maintenance funding. The trucks are carrying >> goods which benefit everyone. Therefore the gas tax should be maintained >> at >> present levels and a general sales tax increase should be enacted and >> designated for highway maintenance. Perhaps the food for the families, or >> prescription medicines could be exempt. (As is done in Florida) >> >> Generally, I agree. But the fuel tax is not a bad way to pay for roads. > It used to work well before the value of the fixed tax was reduced due to > inflation. Even though they use much more fuel per mile, that doesn't > really offset the damage done by trucks. We should start with much higher > fuel taxes that are some fraction of the fuel cost rather than a fixed > amount per gallon. I fail to understand why that is and has been such a > political impossibility. People that worry about EVs and other light > vehicles "paying their fair share" either fail to understand the problem or > they are dishonest. Neither is desirable in our officials. > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/ > group/NEDRA) > > -- Put this question to yourself: should I use everyone else to attain happiness, or should I help others gain happiness? *Dalai Lama * Tell me what it is you plan to do With your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver, "The summer day." To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A. Edison <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed125362.html> A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. *Warren Buffet* Michael E. 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