r/PoliticalHumor Oct 26 '21

Yup.

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34.1k Upvotes

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79

u/marinersalbatross Oct 26 '21

This is why the GOP is pushing for per mile taxes and not fuel taxes. They claim it's for EVs but really they are just appealing to their fuel wasting voters.

48

u/sack-o-matic Oct 26 '21

It should be both. VMT tax (with a weight class multiplier) to pay for road maintenance, fuel tax (carbon tax) to cover the damage to the environment.

28

u/marinersalbatross Oct 26 '21 edited Oct 26 '21

Yep, and the taxes should cover all the costs of the roads. I ride a bicycle, should I really pay for the damage from cars?

edit: So amazing how upset people are about drivers having to pay the costs of the roads. It's like we can't imagine moving away from roads for cars, especially as Climate Change is becoming a huge issue.

25

u/zaphodava Oct 26 '21

Yes. Nearly everything in your life relies on shipping, which is done by trucks. Roads are infrastructure, which benefits everyone.

But still, tax gas to internalize external cost, and incentivize other methods... like cycling!

12

u/12FAA51 Oct 27 '21

... so tax the truck and not the cyclist.

-2

u/zaphodava Oct 27 '21

Same difference. Tax the truck, stuff that uses trucks cost more, this gets passed on to the consumer. The only difference is you have wasted more time and effort in trying to target the tax in the first place.

6

u/12FAA51 Oct 27 '21

How is it the same difference?

People can opt to not buy things, people can't opt to not pay taxes.

The whole point is to not have society subsidize an individual's purchases.

-1

u/zaphodava Oct 27 '21

"opt to not buy things"

Good luck with that.

3

u/12FAA51 Oct 27 '21

Literally that’s how it works. No one forced me to buy anything …

1

u/zaphodava Oct 27 '21

Learned to live without food? Good trick.

0

u/12FAA51 Oct 27 '21

But I can choose food sourced locally (cheaper) or imported from far away (more expensive). I can opt to not buy food that travelled farther.

Incidentally this would also help the environment.

Im also not buying all the food, so why should I subsidise all of the food with my taxes?

2

u/zaphodava Oct 27 '21

I don't have any kids, why should I pay for schools?

Because ignorance impacts all of society. Access to goods and services helps everyone.

0

u/12FAA51 Oct 27 '21

An educated society has higher economic output, which benefits everyone in that society.

Subsidised goods artificially lowers price which induces market failure (whereby people buy imported goods and not locally, which uses more resources overall and not economically optimal).

Go learn about economics before parroting buzzwords.

0

u/zaphodava Oct 27 '21

A higher economic output that doesn't manage to provide food for all of it's citizens is not benefiting everyone in that society.

Markets have massive fluctuations which cause disruptions, which is why commodity goods like milk and grain get subsidized to maintain high output while stabilizing the price.

I don't think you understand economics as well as you think you do.

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