My bigger objection are people using this argument to try to add unfairly high EV taxes
No, EV taxes don’t need to cover road maintenance if gas taxes don’t, and no, EV taxes don’t need to be extra high because of a weight penalty, when ice pickups weigh more and the difference is a rounding error relative to big trucks
But I do believe in vice taxes as a way to guide consumer choices. The most fair choice is to tax all road vehicles by miles and weight, without regard to technology, plus a vice taxes on gasoline (like we do with alcohol) to account for the damage it does to society and to discourage use.
Gas taxes that don’t even cover road maintenance are too low.
Gas taxes that don’t cover the externalised cost of emissions are also too low. But I don’t think any jurisdiction taxes that way.
My bigger objection are people using this argument to try to add unfairly high EV taxes
No, EV taxes don’t need to cover road maintenance if gas taxes don’t, and no, EV taxes don’t need to be extra high because of a weight penalty, when ice pickups weigh more and the difference is a rounding error relative to big trucks
But I do believe in vice taxes as a way to guide consumer choices. The most fair choice is to tax all road vehicles by miles and weight, without regard to technology, plus a vice taxes on gasoline (like we do with alcohol) to account for the damage it does to society and to discourage use.
Agreed.
`miles * weight * small number