Re: Gasoline taxes.
I am definitely off my home turf here, Mr. K. All I really know about cars is how to drive them (but don't ask me what is going on under the hood!). <gg>
However....I would suggest that if European gasoline taxes are not specifically designed to reduce consumption, then perhaps they are at least partially designed to improve fuel economy, by giving people the incentive to drive more fuel-efficient vehicles. Note the following:
Wallman estimated that the average European car sold today, tested on the U.S. cycle, gets about 40.4 mpg. The EPA
estimated that U.S. cars obtained an average of 28.5 mpg in 1996 (Heavenrich and Hellman 1996). European taxes are on
the order of $3/gallon, so a 40¢ tax would induce a change in fuel economy of perhaps one to one-and-a-half miles per
gallon. Wallman's estimate amounts to about 40% better fuel economy in Europe than in the United States.
es.anl.gov
The above-cited document (from which the quotation is from), which I found by running a search, is entitled: An Interpretive Summary of the 1997 Asilomar Conference on Policies for Fostering Sustainable Transportation Technologies." Participants included some industry representatives, as well as government officials, academics, and representatives of public interest groups.
Interestingly, the conference reached no consensus on the question of whether a gasoline tax or regulation (CAFE) would be more effective in improving fuel economy. See the "Recommendations" section at the end.
On one point, I have to emphatically disagree with you. And that is your assertion that the Euro gasoline taxes were designed, among other things, to "penalize the rich" -- and your belief, as stated elsewhere, that the same thing would be true in the United States.
For a long time, it was the poor, or at least, the less well-off who drove the biggest gas-guzzlers. They were stuck with these old heaps, and could not afford the fancier, more fuel-efficient new models. I do not think that has changed.
I know that I myself, in my more indigent days, drove a great big old gas-guzzling Ford station wagon. Not until its wheels finally fell off five years ago did I finally bite the bullet and buy a replacement (second-hand, of course). It was a financial hardship to plop down all that cash(even though the newer vehicle promised to "save money" on gas eventually). I am flusher these days, but I am still driving the replacement (waiting for a really good electric car to come out).
As for publicly-funded transportation systems, I can't help remembering how the automobile industry went about (with government support) to destroy them (the "competition"). In Washington, for example, all the trolley lines were torn up -- the rationale being that they "interfered" with car traffic. Of course, many years later, Washington had to build a much more expensive subway system to replace the trolley routes...Other cities remain totally without public transportation (unless you count busses that run once an hour).
jbe
|
