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Originally Posted by SUBMAN1
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The thing that would bug me about that scheme is the application of a flat tax per mile driven does nothing to motivate people to be more fuel conservative. If the per mile tax is the same for someone driving a 40+mpg small car as it is for someone fuming along in their Hummer, then it reduces the consumer pressure on the auto makers to really get innovative about fuel efficiency.
I just replace a 9 year old 2.2L four-cylinder car with a brand new 1.8L four-cylinder car. Both get about the same mileage (25-30mpg city and 38-42 mpg on the highway). Different makes and models true (GM versus Honda), but a decade of automative "innovation" just to still get the same real world gas mileage I've been getting for 10-20 years?
The good thing about fuel taxes is it can have a nice feedback mechanism on the actual car manufacturers to pull their thumbs out of their butts and actually fund some real engineering research to produce more effecient machines. Right now, I just don't see them making any real investment or effort in really improving automotive feul efficiency - they are pretty much just doing the same old thing they've done for the past 30-40 years.
P.S. and here in the US, despite all the press about horrible gas prices and how much people are hurting because of it, we are nowhere near a real crisis yet. Not going by people's driving habits, fuel demand (fuel sales are still setting record highs), and the continued high sales figures for large and high performance cars (and trucks, vans, SUVs, etc). I think gas is going to have to get well above $5-8/gallon before people really start to change their ways and their mindset. $3/gallon hasn't done much of anything other then increase the amount of griping - but people still buy/use just as much gas as they did at $2/gallon or $1/gallon.