{"id":7205,"date":"2015-01-13T10:32:01","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T15:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=7205"},"modified":"2020-05-25T04:05:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T08:05:47","slug":"raising-gas-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Against raising the gas tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorials from the Washington Post to the New York Times called for a gas tax rise last week, with Charles Krauthammer arguing<\/a> that a $1 per gallon tax\u00a0would mean more efficient cars\u00a0– and, if offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, “reduce the disincentive to work” in the form of Social Security taxes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The

The gasoline tax isn’t the best way to manage America’s infrastructure and environmental issues. Image from the National Library of Wales<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, the New York Times<\/a> argued that the windfall from a higher gas tax should be used to fix longstanding funding gaps. We’ve heard about the U.S.’s infrastructure problems for years, and every time a bridge collapses<\/a>, those calls will get louder – including from usually spending-averse Republicans like James Inhofe and Bob Corker.<\/p>\n

On one hand, this\u00a0is<\/em> the perfect time to hit Americans with higher transportation prices. The average American car\u00a0stays on the road for a little over 10 years<\/a>, so even ten thousand SUVs kept off the road will mean less pollution and net lower carbon consumption for awhile. It could mean either much-needed revenue for infrastructure, or a way to fine-tune a progressive tax policy through consumption-spurring breaks.<\/p>\n

Let’s just\u00a0breathe for a minute, though. Yes, lower gas prices are an unexpected gift to Americans, and yes, they’re already buying bigger cars<\/a>\u00a0as a result – perhaps foolishly, as nothing lasts forever<\/a>. But levying a tax of\u00a0$12 per week per American\u00a0solely to influence purchasing choices<\/em>\u00a0doesn’t seem like it’s necessarily the right tool for the job.<\/p>\n

First of all, it means another bruising battle when the tax needs to be raised (or lowered) again in the future. The\u00a0$1 gasoline tax is a purely arbitrary amount, and there’s no reason to think it’s the right one, any more than the $0.184 per gallon we’ve been saddled with since\u00a0President Bill Clinton is. Congressional intransigence dating back decades has prevented the tax from being adjusted even when it needed to, and there’s no reason to expect that to change soon. Even keying the gasoline tax to inflation doesn’t necessarily cover all the bases, since the projects that the highway trust fund is expected to cover shift from year to year.<\/p>\n

Second, we’re not sure how many people\u00a0opt not to work because of Social Security taxes, but we’re guessing\u00a0that unemployed Americans don’t think on the margins in quite the way their policy wonks do, and the promise of an additional $0.47 per minimum-wage hour doesn’t seem likely to produce the results Krauthammer expects.<\/p>\n

Finally, there’s a perfectly workable alternative out there –\u00a0why not\u00a0just tax cars based on fuel efficiency, rather than the noxiously regressive gas tax? The United Kingdom has long charged a Vehicle Excise Duty<\/a> for registrations, adjusting the amount according to engine size and fuel consumption; when consumers\u00a0purchase a car in the UK, they often ask (or are told) what “band” it’s in, which provides a shorthand for how heavily taxed it will be when they pay for registration. Since miles per gallon figures are easily fudged by car companies,<\/a>\u00a0making miles per gallon an ineffective way of gauging fuel economy – let alone overall environmental impact – but a banded registration system would allow government to take a more holistic look at environmental impact, taking into account shipping and manufacture, not just miles per gallon.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, though, to rest U.S. environmental policy on the fuel economy of our vehicles is to miss an opportunity. Alongside a banded tax that takes fuel efficiency and net impact into account, we need a tax on vehicle miles traveled.\u00a0These two measures would push consumers to shorten their commutes and select less damaging cars, sure, but over time they\u00a0might also encourage Americans to gather in more densely populated areas. While fuel economy and the gas tax will change over time, the built environment adjusts much more slowly, but with broader consequences.<\/p>\n

A town or city where no one commutes farther than a few miles is one that takes our environmental challenges seriously, that doesn’t need as much money from the Federal cashbox – it’s a place\u00a0that’s built to last, and to consume less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorials from the Washington Post to the New York Times called for a gas tax rise last week, with Charles Krauthammer arguing that a $1 per gallon tax\u00a0would mean more efficient cars\u00a0– and, if offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, “reduce the disincentive to work” in the form of Social Security taxes.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[890,892,425,893,891],"class_list":["post-7205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-parking-signs","tag-gasoline-tax","tag-krauthammer","tag-new-york-times","tag-vehicle-excise-duty","tag-washington-post"],"yoast_head":"\nAgainst raising the gas tax - MyParkingSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, reduce the disincentive to work in the form of Social Security taxes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Against raising the gas tax - MyParkingSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, reduce the disincentive to work in the form of Social Security taxes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MyParkingSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parkingsigns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-13T15:32:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-25T08:05:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.myparkingsign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Conrad Lumm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MyParkingSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MyParkingSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Conrad Lumm\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Conrad Lumm\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cd6d4771c1cc2823b271c8e63397ff40\"},\"headline\":\"Against raising the gas tax\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-13T15:32:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-25T08:05:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":712,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.myparkingsign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"gasoline tax\",\"Krauthammer\",\"New York Times\",\"Vehicle Excise Duty\",\"Washington Post\"],\"articleSection\":[\"No Parking\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/\",\"name\":\"Against raising the gas tax - MyParkingSign Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.myparkingsign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-13T15:32:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-25T08:05:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cd6d4771c1cc2823b271c8e63397ff40\"},\"description\":\"offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, reduce the disincentive to work in the form of Social Security taxes.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/raising-gas-tax\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.myparkingsign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.myparkingsign.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"MyParkingSign Blog\",\"description\":\"Articles and resources on parking, road safety, and signs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cd6d4771c1cc2823b271c8e63397ff40\",\"name\":\"Conrad Lumm\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a56d2f165380dcacb2a19088031e1fb3248c27edecbde160aab64fa7254249e1?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a56d2f165380dcacb2a19088031e1fb3248c27edecbde160aab64fa7254249e1?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a56d2f165380dcacb2a19088031e1fb3248c27edecbde160aab64fa7254249e1?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Conrad Lumm\"},\"description\":\"A former copy editor, researcher, and journalist for publications from Beverage World to The Times, Conrad was bit by the urban planning bug after picking up a copy of Donald Shoup's book The High Cost of Free Parking for a little light reading, and has been emptying cocktail parties with parking factoids ever since. He spends his free time on strategic board games, listening to at least five podcasts a day, and sitting around the subway system, where he can often be found muttering about Inconsistent Initial Capping. Conrad grew up in Michigan, Copenhagen, Rome, and Amman, returning to Michigan to study poetry at Interlochen Arts Academy. After four (well, five) years at Sarah Lawrence College, he decamped to Brooklyn, the borough he loves most (even if he lays his head in Manhattan these days, like a sellout).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/MyParkingSign\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Against raising the gas tax - MyParkingSign Blog","description":"offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, reduce the disincentive to work in the form of Social Security taxes.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Against raising the gas tax - MyParkingSign Blog","og_description":"offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, reduce the disincentive to work in the form of Social Security taxes.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/","og_site_name":"MyParkingSign Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parkingsigns","article_published_time":"2015-01-13T15:32:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-25T08:05:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/beta.myparkingsign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Conrad Lumm","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MyParkingSign","twitter_site":"@MyParkingSign","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Conrad Lumm","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/"},"author":{"name":"Conrad Lumm","@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd6d4771c1cc2823b271c8e63397ff40"},"headline":"Against raising the gas tax","datePublished":"2015-01-13T15:32:01+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-25T08:05:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/"},"wordCount":712,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beta.myparkingsign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg","keywords":["gasoline tax","Krauthammer","New York Times","Vehicle Excise Duty","Washington Post"],"articleSection":["No Parking"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/","name":"Against raising the gas tax - MyParkingSign Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beta.myparkingsign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg","datePublished":"2015-01-13T15:32:01+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-25T08:05:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd6d4771c1cc2823b271c8e63397ff40"},"description":"offset by progressive tax breaks on low-income workers, reduce the disincentive to work in the form of Social Security taxes.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/raising-gas-tax\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/beta.myparkingsign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beta.myparkingsign.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cambrian-Motor-Company.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/","name":"MyParkingSign Blog","description":"Articles and resources on parking, road safety, and signs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cd6d4771c1cc2823b271c8e63397ff40","name":"Conrad Lumm","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a56d2f165380dcacb2a19088031e1fb3248c27edecbde160aab64fa7254249e1?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a56d2f165380dcacb2a19088031e1fb3248c27edecbde160aab64fa7254249e1?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a56d2f165380dcacb2a19088031e1fb3248c27edecbde160aab64fa7254249e1?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Conrad Lumm"},"description":"A former copy editor, researcher, and journalist for publications from Beverage World to The Times, Conrad was bit by the urban planning bug after picking up a copy of Donald Shoup's book The High Cost of Free Parking for a little light reading, and has been emptying cocktail parties with parking factoids ever since. He spends his free time on strategic board games, listening to at least five podcasts a day, and sitting around the subway system, where he can often be found muttering about Inconsistent Initial Capping. Conrad grew up in Michigan, Copenhagen, Rome, and Amman, returning to Michigan to study poetry at Interlochen Arts Academy. After four (well, five) years at Sarah Lawrence College, he decamped to Brooklyn, the borough he loves most (even if he lays his head in Manhattan these days, like a sellout).","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/MyParkingSign"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7205"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13269,"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7205\/revisions\/13269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}