02-01-2018, 03:54 PM
(02-01-2018, 03:45 PM)NotStan Wrote:(02-01-2018, 03:22 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: This isn't the point though, at least not my point, we're considering how much the gas tax contributes, because it is the only money that could even be considered a user fee for roads.
The same thing applies to cutting transit fares to zero.
By the way, it's worth noting that gas tax revenues are going to zero in the next ... maybe 30 years or so, given that electric cars are likely to be rapidly overtaking gas cars. Unlike transit fares, which will probably remain, and drivers will continue to whine about how much they're subsidizing transit riders.
It's pretty much a lock that as the amount of tax raised from gas drops there will be a tax on electric vehicles to fill that gap.
I'm not sure what you mean by "a lock", but I see no guarantee. Right now we're heavily subsidizing EVs, and the appetite for increasing taxes is zero. Heck, the evidence from the past 20 years of stagnant gas tax rates, which between inflation and increasing fuel efficiency have decreased effective costs substantially, without replacement is pretty strong evidence that they won't be in a hurry to add a new tax.