Why don't we raise the gas tax?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Trying to include externalities like air pollution is where you go too far. How would you possibly set a price on it?

So who ends up paying for the consequences of automobile air pollution? I mean we all eventually do, but is it (in your words) "fair" to shift the cost to everyone as opposed to having most of the costs paid for by drivers?

[BlackCat]

Here are some interesting numbers:
Federal Excise tax on gas is 18.4 cents per gallon.

I think there is room for a slight raise - here (denmark) the tax is something like $1.20 pr liter (total price ~ $2.5 pr liter).

[ColdWizard]

I think there is room for a slight raise - here (denmark) the tax is something like $1.20 pr liter (total price ~ $2.5 pr liter).

Each state has their own tax on top of that (except Alaska).

[BlackCat]

Each state has their own tax on top of that (except Alaska).

Yeah, but there still is a little difference between 20 cents + local taxes and approx $4.5

[PLATO]

Here is what Tennessee does on a state level:

Tennessee’s gasoline tax

• 21.4 cents per gallon (20 cent gasoline tax + 1.4 cent special petroleum fee)
• Yields $668.9 million per year
• Each penny is worth about $31.3 million per year

How the tax is divided

•7.9 cents, or $246.8 million, goes to cities and counties
•Approximately .7 cent, or $22.1 million, goes to the State General Fund
•Approximately 12.8 cents, or $400.1 million, goes to TDOT

The $400.1 million is included in TDOT's total state revenue of $874,300,000 and is used in three basic ways to accomplish TDOT's mission:

1. Basic operating costs
2. Highway maintenance contracts
3. Resurfacing, bridges, major reconstruction, new construction, consultant contracts, right-of-way purchases, and to match federal funds

This makes the total tax on a gallon of gas in Tennessee at 39.8 cents per gallon (federal + state).

Roads here seem pretty good to me. Of course, TDOT (TN Dept of Transportation) does an excellent job allocating its funds imo.

[Jon Miller]

3.785 liters in a gallon
~0.48 dollars tax per gallon

~0.12 dollars tax per liter

The usual tax on gas is ~1/10 of what denmark pays.

JM

[rah]

and in Illinois, besides the state tax, there is also a county tax, and Chicago also tacks on a city tax. I'm waiting for the neighborhood tax.

[Al B. Sure!]

But not entirely?

Raise the gas taxes simultaneous to public transit fares. If we all have to pay for what we use....

Nope. You want to encourage public transit usage since it, presumably, is a more efficient use of gasoline resources.

[giblets]

Nope. You want to encourage public transit usage since it, presumably, is a more efficient use of gasoline resources.

So...? If people use gasoline inefficiently they bear the cost of their decision, assuming it's taxed sufficiently to compensate for the costs to society. Buses should pay the tax too, of course.

[Felch]

So who ends up paying for the consequences of automobile air pollution? I mean we all eventually do, but is it (in your words) "fair" to shift the cost to everyone as opposed to having most of the costs paid for by drivers?

If your coworker loves boiled cabbage and beans, does he owe you money every time he farts?

[Al B. Sure!]

So...? If people use gasoline inefficiently they bear the cost of their decision, assuming it's taxed sufficiently to compensate for the costs to society. Buses should pay the tax too, of course.

The point is to encourage people to use other forms of transportation. Hiking public transit fares (which includes trains) is not going to give people incentive to use alternate transportation methods besides driving their own cars. You want to make using transit a worthwhile alternative, not only because the emissions and congestion from more public transit use would be less but economies of scale in public transit mean that it becomes more efficient the more people use it.

Discouraging public transit use defeats the entire social purpose of a gas tax. If anything, we may even want to use some of the revenue from the tax to SUBSIDIZE public transit to further encourage people away from driving their own cars to taking transit!

[giblets]

The point is to encourage people to use other forms of transportation. Hiking public transit fares (which includes trains) is not going to give people incentive to use alternate transportation methods besides driving their own cars. You want to make using transit a worthwhile alternative, not only because the emissions and congestion from more public transit use would be less but economies of scale in public transit mean that it becomes more efficient the more people use it.

Discouraging public transit use defeats the entire social purpose of a gas tax. If anything, we may even want to use some of the revenue from the tax to SUBSIDIZE public transit to further encourage people away from driving their own cars to taking transit!

No. Why would we subsidize public transit? This is social engineering. Why do you feel the urge to collectivize something for no apparent reason? If gasoline use pollutes and puts wear and tear on the roads then buses should pay the same gas tax that cars and trucks pay.

[Al B. Sure!]

No. Why would we subsidize public transit? This is social engineering. Why do you feel the urge to collectivize something for no apparent reason? If gasoline use pollutes and puts wear and tear on the roads then buses should pay the same gas tax that cars and trucks pay.

Because we're trying to discourage personal car use which is, per person, more costly to society than bus and train usage is per person. We want to transfer people from using their personal cars to using the train. You don't accomplish that if you make train usage as costly as car usage!

If we give them no cost-beneficial alternative, they'll just keep driving to their detriment or won't be able to travel (which includes to their place of employment).

[giblets]

Settle down. No one is going to make mass transit as expensive as owning a car.

[Dinner]

Interestingly, Santorum holds three degrees.

That's the hypocrisy. He holds three degrees but is telling his followers not to send their kids to college because Obama will brainwash them there. I mean that's just loony tunes.