Electric cars could make toll roads inevitable

[CHIMO]

Motorists generally have a fit when environmentalists suggest that in order to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions the Don Valley Parkway or the 401 should become a toll road. Yet the approach might arrive sooner than you think because of all the zero emission electric cars that are coming on to the market.

How does that make sense, you ask? Zero emission means the problem’s solved. Not so fast - it’s about taxes.

About a third of the price that you pay at the pump goes straight to government supposedly to help pay for roads with a penny or two for public transit. If you charge your new buggy off a wall plug at home you won’t be visiting the pumps and paying the cut to government. Even if you’re driving a super-efficient gasoline-powered car you’ll be using a lot less of the stuff and that squeezes the taxman, too.

In England, home of the Congestion Charge, the RAC Foundation has recently reported that some form of “pay-as-you-go” road charging is now inevitable. This is from the charitable research foundation set up years ago by the Royal Automobile Club. Its conclusion is that the fall in fuel tax revenue will force governments to act.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/green-driving/news-and-notes/electric-cars-could-make-toll-roads-inevitable/article1662006/

[Ron Green]

1. That's OK. Inherently wasteful modes like cars and planes should be taxed and charged, and

inherently efficient modes like trains and bicycles should be subsidized.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Just add the tax to the electricity. What a fucking no-brainer.

Why are politicians so goddamned stupid?

[Demeter]

3. It's Called Corruption

Sell a freeway to a capitalist and he can charge tolls that keep on rising. Public toll roads pay for their maintenance....have to add on the profit!

Tax electricity, and people learn to conserve electricity or make their own. Where's the profit in that?

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting to get rid of my logic hat and put on my

"what's the best way to turn this situation into a corrupt profit-maker" hat

[Uncle Joe]

10. Because, they're paid to be. n/t

[Igel]

11. Gasoline tax is a user tax.

Trivial amounts are used for non-vehicular purposes. Most vehicle traffic is on roads.

Taxing electricity for roads and transportation isn't a user tax. Most electricity use will still not be for vehicular traffic.

Now, we could have special meters for vehicle recharging stations, but that would be expensve and awkward, and hard to monitor those who use extension cords to circumvent the meters. But otherwise people like my mother, no driver's license but needing to use a fair amount of electricity, subsidize all of those who drive. Currently she pays gasoline tax in the form of tacit price surcharges on food and clothing.

[and-con]

5. Actually i did a fair bit of thinking on this

and decided simply changing the road tax from gasoline to tires could work, except in border areas, people would simply buy their tires in Canada or Mexico and recross the border. Or hook a meter to the chargers; electronically it should be simple enough.

[caraher]

8. And how much would your tire tax be?

The problem is that people buy gas continuously and the added expense of taxes pretty much works itself into a daily budget. But tires last tens of thousands of miles, so you're talking about bundling the taxes normally spread across the gas purchases of tens of thousands of miles of driving into a few purchases. What will people do if a tire costs $500?

We'd see a lot of people driving on bald tires, for one thing. And heaven help you if you get a flat tire when you're on a tight budget.

I also think it might prove regressive in the sense that people who can afford better-quality tires that last longer would wind up paying less tax. Unless you somehow indexed the tax to the anticipated life of the tire.

[digidigido]

6. Or we could pull out of Dumbfuckistan and the money saved

could go to the states for infrastructure

[Chemical Bill]

12. +1

[midnight]

7. When traveling from Wisconsin to Illinois, you get hit left and right with tolls.

[mwooldri]

9. For those states that have to do annual inspections, the pay-go is easy to do.

Each car has an odometer. Each year during inspection, the odometer is read and the mileage noted on the inspection report. Charge 2 cents a mile "road usage tax" for vehicles that don't run on gasoline or diesel. This would mean that a person driving 12,000 miles a year would have to pay $240 extra tax. However to make it more affordable, give the motorist 10 months to pay over time.

That would replace the revenue that would have been generated by a gasoline powered vehicle easily.