this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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Different user, but ending the loopholes on vehicle emissions/MPG would be a good start. Here is a good summary of the situation:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-wants-to-close-the-suv-loophole-that-supersized-cars/
Though IIRC the Biden admin came out with new, better rules to help with this.
Another way to deal with it is to build comprehensive public transportation, relax residential zoning regulations, eliminate parking minimums, build biking/pedestrian infrastructure, etc. Doing so will reduce car dependence and therefore the number of people who unnecessarily choose a huge vehicle.
Yet another way to deal with this, is to tax auto sales based on vehicle size. As of right now, there is little financial pressure to keep cars small, so manufactures play an arms race with each other to make bigger vehicles, because they're safer the occupants, all at the cost of everybody else's safety. Bigger cars also impart more wear and tear on public roads, so between these things they should financially contribute more taxes to compensate.
reducing car dependence is another thing as well, though i think it's probably good we focus on this specific problem more so at the moment, as a lot of that infrastructure is simply going to take time to mature.
a tax on vehicle weight would be a good one though.
Absolutely. But it will definitely help, and long term solutions are important solutions.
Also absolutely, though a straight weigh based tax may not be a great idea, as EVs are significantly heavier. So without taking that into account, it would largely be a tax on EVs. Given the current climate situation, that's the wrong move.
From what I've seen in practice, it seems like most vehicle weight taxes do take this into account.
yeah obviously. I think it's important to engage in both long term, and short term solutions however.
i mean, EV's are just heavier, which means they're going to put more wear on the road. Regardless a smaller EV should still be relatively comparable to a moderately larger ICE vehicle. And we also expect EV batteries to get lighter over time, especially if you include solidstate battery tech.
Although maybe EVs should get a tax credit in this regard, since they're yknow, EVs.
Agreed.
Personally, I'm against tax credits on a conceptual basis. They complicate the tax code. Taxes should be simple, quick, and easy. Tacking on extra tax credits just makes an already horrendous system worse. Either give a citizen a check automatically, directly subsidize individual sales.
yeah, im not a huge fan of how complicated it is either, but at the end of the day unless we do a complete ground up overhaul of the tax system which i am for, not much is going to happen.