Hmm. How would you factor a vehicle with only the driver, but packed to the gills with cargo (says the woman who still goes to Pennsic...)? Would you differentiate between retail cargo and recreational cargo?
Hmm cargo actually was what got me thinking about this.bigbrotherinlawMarch 15 2011, 13:48:29 UTC
My day job deals primarily with creating software for trucking companies. My hope would be to improve fuel utilization by discouraging excessive dead head miles (driving a truck empty to the next pickup point).
For passenger vehicles, I'm reluctant to give credit for random recreational cargo. For example, the person who hauls around the same 500 pounds of garbage in their car for months and months to no particular purpose is not utilizing fuel efficiently. Your example of pulling recreational equipment to an event and back is more reasonable. The key though would be the accounting mechanism. See my replies elsewhere.
Interesting idea indeed, except the tax is paid at the pump, so there's no way to index it for the times between fill-ups when you're at full capacity vs. when you're alone. It is, however, possible to index for the fuel efficiency ratings of the vehicle itself - but that would be nothing more nor less than a surtax on the working poor.
The current accounting mechanism ties the tax directly to the fuel consumed, so that the gross fuel "efficiency" of the vehicle already plays a role in the tax paid.
What I'm looking to do is incentivize carpooling, ridesharing, etc., and reduce the number of full size SUVs carrying one person to and fro. As I said, the accounting would be a challenge, but not an impossible one. The current systems would not be able to handle it, I agree. My intention would be to relieve the tax burden on the working poor to the extent that I expect they are less likely to waste fuel in the first place.
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I like this proposal. I am also in favor of cross-country road trips in land shark vehicles, especially at vehicle capacity and WITH THE TOP DOWN.
I've got a Chrysler, and it seats about twenty, so come on and bring your jukebox money!
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Interesting idea.
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For passenger vehicles, I'm reluctant to give credit for random recreational cargo. For example, the person who hauls around the same 500 pounds of garbage in their car for months and months to no particular purpose is not utilizing fuel efficiently. Your example of pulling recreational equipment to an event and back is more reasonable. The key though would be the accounting mechanism. See my replies elsewhere.
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What I'm looking to do is incentivize carpooling, ridesharing, etc., and reduce the number of full size SUVs carrying one person to and fro. As I said, the accounting would be a challenge, but not an impossible one. The current systems would not be able to handle it, I agree. My intention would be to relieve the tax burden on the working poor to the extent that I expect they are less likely to waste fuel in the first place.
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