Gas v. Electric Justification --- Accounting for road taxes

[steve841]

Uh, sorry but that simply isn't correct. A big problem for most states is that they levied a per gallon tax on gas. In WA, it's 55.9 cents/ga. Even with out EVs, ICE efficiency is improving, mandated by the CAFE standards, and thus each car consumes less gas per year. So tax revenues are falling. The "great" recession didn't help much either. These funds are earmarked for transportation in many (most? all?) states.

By and large I agree. My point was that no government ever met a new tax they didn't love. We are taxed at every waking moment. Increase an existing tax - dont levy a new tax.

Does anyone believe those lottery funds actually did anything for the teachers? Or just fatten the wallets of the school boards and various administrators?????

 

[William13]

We are paying state taxes on electricity in most locations. Apples to apples please.

 

[Martini]

There are mainly two ways that a government funds its services: user fees and taxes. Earmarking gas taxes for roads (whether or not this is effective in practice) is a way of saying that the gas tax is actually a user fee. But there are no obvious patterns to what services get funded by user fees and what services by taxes, across states in the US or across other countries. For example, some jurisdictions charge search and rescue fees to lost hikers or skiers, while others do not. In some places you pay for every bag of garbage you throw away, in others trash services are part of your property taxes.

In general, user fees are preferred where possible, but a proliferation of different taxes and fees reduces government transparency by obscuring the total tax burden of government.

The point is that it is not obvious that a special tax or fee for electric cars follows logically from the claim that fuel taxes pay for road building. Such taxes are just a decision that each government makes based on political philosophy and need for revenue.