cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/44856828
As the war in Iran pushes U.S. gas prices toward $4 a gallon nationally, some lawmakers are pushing to suspend the federal gasoline tax in the latest attempt to try to control surging energy costs.
Lawmakers say the action would provide much-needed relief for families and businesses that rely on their cars and trucks to get to work and school and run everyday errands.
Asked about the gas tax at a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Donald Trump said he has “thought about” suspending it but suggested states should consider suspending their fuel taxes.
If only people didn’t need to commute to an office 3-5 days a week! Gee, if only that was proven to work at scale for multiple years!
Everything but public transportation.
Or protected bike paths.
Or trams and LRTs.
Or even just some goddamn EV subsidies again.
The fact that states are thinking of pausing the tax just pisses my EV driving ass off. Here they made registration more expensive for EVs because “we don’t pay gas tax” so if they suspend it what are the chances we EV drivers get a refund? I bet its less than zero.
Meanwhite the drivers of the polluters and gas guzzlers get a discound to continue to pollute. They should be making EVs more desirable by having no tax or extra fees, make others jealous and have FOMO.
The EV fees are a very stupid solution to a real policy issue.
They should change it to a fee by vehicle weight, based on road wear caused. This means the vast majority of road maintenance will be paid for by the groups that actually cause it: trucking companies.
We can keep gas taxes as a fee for poisoning everyone.
Trucking companies will be very happy to pass that cost along to you, esteemed final consumer.
Road infrastructure is already heavily subsidized by the taxpayers, which in the US is basically the same as saying drivers, so I don’t see how that changes anything.
The point is that it would force trucking companies to make choices that consider effects on the road infrastructure.
Do I continue shipping pretty much everything in trucks as big as possible? Or do I consider smaller trucks for shorter distances? Maybe I should hire developers to determine the most cost-efficient system of paths by small trucks and large trucks? What if I used trains or ships for some long distance travels? Would that make sense? Etc.
US is burning through cash at a unprecedented rate and nobody seems to be talking about it.
There’s a lot of things the US press isn’t telling us.
Remember how some car drivers get mad about cyclists because they feel like cyclists don’t pay for roads because bikes don’t pay gas tax?
The Federal government should not be allowed to directly tax anything. All should go through the states. This direct taxation is how we are stuck in this Nazi Feudalust situation.
I was under the impression that gas taxes paid for roads, in that case how do they plan to fund all the road maintenance that decades of overfunding road construction while underfunding transit has created a need for?
LOL, nope. Gas tax revenue is only a small fraction of the cost of road maintenance.
The notion that drivers are paying their fair share is just a lie carbrains claim in order to bully cyclists.
@grue @Armok_the_bunny But with that said, as gas taxes do pay for some of road maintenance and expansion and the politicians in power (from both parties but especially Republicans) will never get over their addiction to reckless highway expansion, any temporary or permanent cuts to gas tax will be accompanied by efforts to end federal funding for transit as well as any facilities at all for people to walk and bike safely on roads.
That tax argument has never really made sense to me. As an avid cyclist, I don’t know anyone that owns a bike but doesn’t also own a car. I’m sure they exist in big cities, but I’ve never met them.
It’s not meant to make sense; it’s meant to sound ‘truthy’ (which is not the same as ‘truthful’) enough to serve as an excuse try to attack cyclists as not deserving to use the road.
The reality is, road wear and tear goes up with the fourth power of vehicle weight. If cyclists were taxed 1¢ and other road users were taxed fairly and proportionally, the average sedan driver would be taxed thousands of dollars, and 18-wheeler drivers would be taxed millions.
How about just paying out the tax money directly to people instead?
It was already so low that the impact of removing it is going to be nothing
oil companies and gas stations already drooling over the thought of an extra ~ 20c a gallon pure profit.
And in a supply crisis like this, what we need is demand destruction
Check this guy out!
Paying an extra dollar for a handi isnt the worst thing
You’re so right!
Who wants to bet when the cut the taxes that the companies will just pocket the difference. Same as the tariffs. All these things supposed to be helping normal people end up helping the already rich. So weird. /s
These are the prices in Belgium Per LITER https://prix-carburant.eu/en/be/stations
So cheap :(
The gummit don’t need money right? We just live off debt. 50 billion a week?
Still 2/3 of the inflation adjusted price in 07 under Bush, surprisingly.
