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0 pointsjeroenhd3y ago0 comments

The problem with that is that the heavy electric cars are actually damaging the road more than their ICE counterparts because of their huge batteries. For some countries this isn't much of a problem, just buy a normal car instead if an SUV and you should get the cost difference back, but for others the mileage of current smaller electric cars just isn't practical.

We could make exemptions for electric vehicles powered by green energy like we do right now for trucks and other large equipment, but that'll mostly hit the poorer populations who can't afford an electric car. Tacking road maintenance costs onto other general goods in the form of taxes disproportionately hits people who try to avoid using a car for the environment and the liveability of their city, for example by taking public transport or a bike.

A future where everyone drives electric is going to be more expensive because of electric car technology. I'd say pay the difference with two different taxes: one for car weight/wheel load, another for pollution through (similarly hefty) gas taxes. Heavy EVs pay extra for the road damage, ICEs pay for their pollution to encourage cleaner cars, and heavy SUVs/pickup trucks pay both.

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dotancohen3y ago

  > Tacking road maintenance costs onto other general goods in the form of taxes disproportionately hits people who try to avoid using a car for the environment and the liveability of their city, for example by taking public transport or a bike.

Those general goods will reflect the cost of actually getting them to the store. Why should I subsidize pornography magazines, canned pork, and other items that I don't use? Just have everybody pay their fair share of road wear, or at least as close to it as possible, and let the costs trickle down. If some items, e.g. baby diapers or bread, are deemed to be worthy of subsidy then directly subsidize them.

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0 pointsjeroenhd3y ago0 comments

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dotancohen3y ago

  > Tacking road maintenance costs onto other general goods in the form of taxes disproportionately hits people who try to avoid using a car for the environment and the liveability of their city, for example by taking public transport or a bike.

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