In the news

[magid]

There might be changes to how we're taxed for driving. Apparently, there's an idea to tax people based on mileage, not gallons bought. Which on the face of it makes some sense, if everyone's got a GPS (mentioned in the story) or they use the mileage noted at every inspection, or something. I mean, the tax is there to cover road needs, not gas sales, really. But thinking about it more, I'm not in favor of the proposed change, for a couple of reasons. One is that SUVs (and other huge honking vehicles) use tons of gas, but have sucky gas mileage, so comparatively speaking, we're encouraging purchasing environmentally unsound vehicles. The other is I don't like is the Big Brother aspect, of having records of how much one has driven (and possibly even where). Ugh. It gives me the shivers (I bet the police would love it. "The car was driven to the crime scene, and no one else had keys..."). Really, if I drive more, I'll buy more gas; if I drive less, I'll buy less gas. And in a lot of ways, taxes at the pump are a lot easier to collect.


And there are hermaphroditic fish out there. Ack. Well, only found near one factory, so far, but ack.

Comments

[bitty.livejournal.com]

i prefer the gasoline tax because it SCREWS THE EVIL SUVs.
yeah!

[jaq.livejournal.com]

I second that!

Anyway, you guys only pay around one third of what petrol costs here. Bah.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

well, how many foreign oil countries have you taken over lately?

[jaq.livejournal.com]

Have you forgotten your staunch allies?

[bitty.livejournal.com]

Poland! GWB says we must not forget Poland! Yes! All our spare oil goes to Poland!

[magid.livejournal.com]

What? Greasy Poles? What?

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Uh ... Iraqi oil is not going to the US, for the most part. The majority of production goes into the European market. So far's I know, the first US oil company to try for a big Iraqi contract is ConocoPhillips, which is doing so by talking with a Russian oil company (LUKoil), of all things, about taking a minority share in the Western Qurna project. FWIW, LUKoil's right to the field in question are far from solid.

US invasion of Iraq does not equal Iraqi-origin gasoline for US SUVs. This country's biggest source of foreign oil is Canada.

And Halliburton is not an oil company but a logistics company. Oil drilling services are only one of the things it provides.

Forgive the tone, but my professional hackles are going up here.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I can see why they find the idea of a per-mile tax attractive, but it's such a bad idea on so many levels.