From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sun Feb 16 2003 - 12:19:36 MST
On Sunday, February 16, 2003 1:22 PM Mike Lorrey mlorrey@yahoo.com
> Not only that, but gas taxes tax you on the distance
> you travel, AND they tax those with less efficient
> vehicles (LIKE SUVs) more than other vehicles.
> Larger vehicles tend to wear roads out faster, so
> it is right for this to apply the way it does. Gasoline
> taxes are thus a beneficial means of paying for roads.
>
> They are paid by those who actually benefit from
> what they are spent on, which is far more than you
> can say for just about any other sort of tax.
I would say this is mostly true, but gasoline is not just used for
driving. The guy who fuels his lawnmower and doesn't drive anywhere is
also paying gas taxes. (Also, not all gas tax revenue goes toward road
maintenance and building.)
Of course, from a libertarian perspective, any tax is wrong. From an
economic point of view any tax is inefficient in relation to voluntary
transactions. (It would a lot better, here, to privatize roads and then
have a full free market for transportation -- instead of the mixed
economy we have there now. It would also, in my mind, be more
Extropian.:)
Cheers!
Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune
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