this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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ok so i want to pick your brain here. What would be the most effective way to prevent these idiots from buying these large trucks, but still allowing these larger trucks on the market for the few rare instances where people actually need them.
I've had a few thoughts, notably just making smaller trucks alongside these larger trucks, they're going to be a lot cheaper and more efficient so market forces should do quite a bit of work there. Aside from there, i've considered just selling super duties and deleting the normal line, probably just leaving the duallies in all honesty. I've also considered just yeeting the bed and throwing a fifth wheel there as a standard feature, making it impractical for anything other than hauling heavy trailers.
Outside of this, i'm not sure, but i'm also not convinced most people that use these trucks even need them in the first place, even if they're doing work.
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.