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.
This is building a great case for america to
- Invest in better public transit infrastructure
- Adopt EVs even faster
- Make biking a safer transportation choice for everyone
But…
It won’t.
Adopt EVs even faster
GOP are working hard against that attempting to add new annual taxes on EV usage.
I didn’t read the article, fwiw. EVs should be taxed. US infrastucture is paid for by taxes on fuel at the pump, so all EVs do is destroy roads. Repeal the gas tax and tax the weight of the vehicle is a sane option. I am sure that isn’t what the oil-backed GOP wants, though.
I didn’t read the article, fwiw. EVs should be taxed.
I’m already taxed on my EV at the state level. The article you didn’t read would add additional federal taxes. I’m not opposed to paying my fair share to maintain roads. The problem is these EV tax levels are WAY OVER the fair share for EV drivers.
US infrastucture is paid for by taxes on fuel at the pump, so all EVs do is destroy roads.
The problem is proportion. The EV, lets call them “road taxes”, are a static number, and that number is VERY HIGH.
Lets assume the average car gets 30 miles/gallon. My current state EV tax is $200/year. The total fuel tax (state and federal) where I live is 38.5 cents/gallon. If we do the math EVs are paying the tax on the equivalent driving of 15,584 miles/year.
The article you didn’t read talks about the GOP wanting to put an additional $250/year tax on EVs at the federal level. So using the same metrics as in the example before an EV would be paying the tax on the equivalent driving of 36,065 miles/year.
To add insult to injury, I drive less than 9k miles a year.
Because these are static taxes and not based on actual use, actual road damage, there’s nothing a consumer can change in behavior to lower the tax except to buy a gasoline car instead.
This also says nothing to the argument that while, yes “all vehicles destroy roads”, a passenger vehicle does a tiny fraction of the damage of a giant 18-wheeler (HGV). While those big shipping trucks certainly use more fuel, they damage they do to roads far exceeds the tax they pay in fuel*.
So again, I’m fine paying my fair share of road taxes, but the current and proposed additonal EV road taxes are disproportionally high compared to both gasoline vehicles and giant 18-wheeler trucks.
Repeal the gas tax and tax the weight of the vehicle is a sane option. I am sure that isn’t what the oil-backed GOP wants, though.
I’d be fine with that.
However, my original reply stands. The GOP, in the face of high oil costs, are making EV adoption even harder.
Less funding for crumbling highways, bridges, and roads. But keep driving! We won’t rethink public transit or automotive dependency. We won’t spend the money more wisely or make transportation more efficient. Nope, keep feeding the gas dependence to justify more oil wars!
They killed any kind of renewable push and now it’s biting them in the ass hard.
Working out real well for oil execs and investors.
I think the point is, they should stop double dipping… the profits they’re making from the war should go to the roads so the people can continue to go to work and keep supporting the system. They’re totally not going to stop double dipping, but that’s what the point is, that they should stop double dipping.
Also, do federal taxes pay for roads or just state/local? What federal agency works on roads? I always thought they were state run.
Federal government gives money to the states for those highway projects.
The right lines are going up and down.
How about we tax the producers of the gas instead of the consumers? Same gas tax, but it comes from the rich fat cats who can afford it. The oil companies have a fuck ton of money and all the do is lobby and leech off government resources.
Ah! The Trump Tariff Paradigm! Yes, the seller wont pass the tax on to the consumer whatsoever! No sir! They’ll just be bad at business and eat the cost while not passing both it, and a hefty markup, to the consumer.
$0.184 a gallon.
So that $5.00 price I saw the other day would be $4.816. Not a significant improvement. Even losing my states $0.40 tax would make it $4.416.
still half the price petrol has been in any normal country for years, lol
If only there was an alternative fuel source for vehicles that we were in the middle of investing in that may have paid off in situations like this.
A shame that doesn’t exist.
Situations like… Going to war to keep the petro dollar fueled?
What’s crazy is this was 100% predictable. Shit, YouTuber RealLifeLore did a video titled “What happens if Iran blocks the strait of Hormuz” like 5 years ago.
So it’s like yeah we stopped EV industry because we want to support big oil. Big oil requires we go to war in the middle east. Going to war in the middle east invariably raises oil prices.
I guess what I’m saying is “too bad no EVs to save us right now” is the least infuriating part. We don’t have EVs because we are raising oil prices.
It’s insane.
It’s $6 in California; I’ve heard it’s more expensive here, too, as it is refined more and better for engine.
It’s possibly that, but also taxes and additional transport.
What are your fuel costs normally? Because 99p per litre of the most expensive diesel there is a fucking steal.
Americans have dirt cheap gas, it’s one of the reasons they have the giant fuel inefficient trucks and SUVs everywhere. Of course they’re pissed gas has gotten more expensive when their cars eat up 10 liters of gas per 100km.
Thanks to conservative identity politics and their “trucks are for REAL men” bullshit thats been going on a few decades its actually way worse than 10l/100km thats like 23mpg. Those big trucks are more like 16l/100km. All for folks who just commute in those monstrous things. And its not at all uncommon to see the luxury trims that run $80-$100k
Conservatives love their gender affirming trucks
Seems like 0.80 USD/litre is about the average in USA and it has “soared” to 1.05. Here in Denmark it’s currently at 2.50 and before the Iran war it was at 2.10 $/L
So I wholly agree, that’s a steal any day
If we hadn’t let hour+ long commutes in places with no reasonable public transport become normalized, it’d be much less of a problem. Americans routinely drive distances that would make Europeans slackjawed and for no good reason.
Wow. We have not even begun to see the deficit spending apparently. talk about go brrrr. go brrrrrr indeed.
