Idea for promoting fossil fuel conservation...
Monday, 7. January 2008, 20:20:18
I've posted this on a few different forums for quite a while now, but I'm blogging it here now.
Various schemes have been proposed, some of which have been implemented. These include taxing gasoline to the sky, taxing cars for fuel use, and similar ideas. These schemes all have issues, though.
My idea is a bit more creative. Directly taxing the fuel has the most impact, but also the most opposition. So, my idea is a variation on that theory.
With my idea, a $1/gal (note: that number is just an example, like all numbers in this entry. Plug your own numbers in) petroleum tax would be applied to all petroleum-based fuels. Simple gas tax, right?
Wrong.
At the same time, I would provide a tax break to counter this tax. I'd set a fuel consumption target that the average citizen would have to meet - let's say, 15,000 miles at 30 MPG, or 500 gallons - to get the tax completely countered. And, how would this work? Across the board $500 tax refund for all taxpayers.
Here's the advantage of this system over the other systems. For someone who meets that target, they will ultimately pay $0 more. However, for someone who beats that target - let's say they drive 10,000 miles getting 40 MPG, or 250 gallons... they'll MAKE $250. And, for someone who doesn't use petroleum-based fuels at all? $500 in that person's pocket.
So, this system promotes alternatives to driving, or driving less, or driving more fuel efficient cars, very flexibly (unlike a scheme like CAFE,) while not excessively penalizing for normal consumption. I think it's the best of all worlds.
What do you say?
Various schemes have been proposed, some of which have been implemented. These include taxing gasoline to the sky, taxing cars for fuel use, and similar ideas. These schemes all have issues, though.
My idea is a bit more creative. Directly taxing the fuel has the most impact, but also the most opposition. So, my idea is a variation on that theory.
With my idea, a $1/gal (note: that number is just an example, like all numbers in this entry. Plug your own numbers in) petroleum tax would be applied to all petroleum-based fuels. Simple gas tax, right?
Wrong.
At the same time, I would provide a tax break to counter this tax. I'd set a fuel consumption target that the average citizen would have to meet - let's say, 15,000 miles at 30 MPG, or 500 gallons - to get the tax completely countered. And, how would this work? Across the board $500 tax refund for all taxpayers.
Here's the advantage of this system over the other systems. For someone who meets that target, they will ultimately pay $0 more. However, for someone who beats that target - let's say they drive 10,000 miles getting 40 MPG, or 250 gallons... they'll MAKE $250. And, for someone who doesn't use petroleum-based fuels at all? $500 in that person's pocket.
So, this system promotes alternatives to driving, or driving less, or driving more fuel efficient cars, very flexibly (unlike a scheme like CAFE,) while not excessively penalizing for normal consumption. I think it's the best of all worlds.
What do you say?
WIDGETIZE
Anonymous # 13. January 2009, 03:01
followed you over here from a certain engine specialty site,
which makes my answer completely obvious:
I like it!