« Airplanes And Global Warming | Main | Empire and Resistance »

May 29, 2005

Taxing Gas Guzzlers?

By: Rowan Wolf

The headline from the UK reads "Owners of gas-guzzling cars to be hit by five-fold tax increase." The proposed tax would rise from 150 pounds a year to 900. The proposal is aimed at attacking the production of greenhouse gases, but the some of the "gas guzzlers" on the list would shock those in the U.S.

Five cars facing £900 a year in road tax

VW Sharan 2.0S - MPG: 29.1 - CO2 emissions: 230gm per km

Range Rover Sport 4.4 V8 - MPG: 18.9 - CO2 emissions: 352gm per km

Ford Galaxy 2.3LX - MPG: 28 - CO2 emissions: 242gm per km

Volvo V70 2.4SE - MPG: 30.7 - CO2 emissions: 220gm per km

Mercedes E240 Classic - MPG: 27.4 - CO2 emissions: 247gm per km

Given that many people I talk to think that 20 miles per gallon is "good" gas mileage, with the exception of the Range Rover, all of the other four sample cars listed get over 27 mpg. Gas guzzlers indeed!

The strategy of the tax is to force automakers to make higher mileage, less polluting, vehicles. Given the U.S. strategy to do exactly the opposite, then there may be a business "opportunity" in importing the "low efficiency" vehicles from the UK to the U.S.

Posted by Rowan at May 29, 2005 8:23 AM Category: Global Warming --- Social Impacts

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.radnoesis.info/mt33/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/1603





Comments

I think taxing gas guzzlers like this is a great idea. Imported cars might be sold cheaper and may appear "cheaper in the long run" in the US, thus providing us with at least some relief. On the UK side, they will not be buying these "gas guzzlers." With fewer buyers of the "gas guzzlers" and more buyers of fuel efficient cars, sooner or later, US automakers will have make more fuel efficient cars.

It is not the dramatic change that we really need, but it is a start.

Posted by: Shawna at May 29, 2005 11:00 AM

Wow, not sure if my Jetta gets more than 27 mpg, and I thought I had improved my lot after owning a Chevy Camaro previously!

At any rate, the US could at least begin with the Hummers, Suburbans, Excursions, etc., that all sit in the 14-16 mpg range. Taxing gas guzzlers to factor in the environmental harm, not to mention blatant disregard for depleting a non-renewable resource, has always seemed like a no-brainer to me. What a wonderful source of tax income that might be for our federal government, which instead seems interested in cutting social services and educational funding left and right.

Posted by: Pamela at May 30, 2005 8:57 PM