I guess the May 19th Boycott didn't work

[Mercure]

This is going to sound selfish, but wouldn't it be nice to get a tax break for owning a four cylinder, compact sedan. I know you do with a Prius and/or an Insight, but it would be nice for those who consume less gas to benefit from a break and increase people's desire to want to purchase more economical cars. I know there are those who need bigger SUVs and Trucks for work and family, but it would be nice.

As a 4 cyl owner, this sounds cool

But on the other hand, tax breaks for hybrids, insofar as they affect the market viability of hybrids, encourage the industry to put R&D and manufacturing muscle into them, which puts us in a better position in the long term. If you put the same tax break on the other side of the equation, you would drive more sales of the already cheaper 4 cyl cars, so companies wouldn't be able to justify spending out of pocket on the more long-term solution. Even though people who were conscious of fuel economy would be getting tax breaks.

Hybrids don't make car companies any money right now, while 4cyls do. Take away the advantage and hybrids are even more of a losing proposition for car companies, whether or not they would help us all in the future... since the technology already works, what needs to develop now is commercial viability. That's at least a nice excuse for this sort of subsidy/corporate welfare

I should also point out that people already are taxed directly in proportion with how much gas they use, via taxes on gas, and that's even on top of paying more because they simply use more gas (not to mention the relative expense of cars with big engines).

 

[SciFiMan]

where the money goes

About $1 of the gallon goes to the company that extracts the oil from the ground. Another 70 cents or so goes to the refiner. Then there is the cost of transporting it to the local stations, and the gasoline taxes. The local station gets our hate but they only make about 7 cents per gallon sold.

About 20 gallons of gas is produced from a barrel of oil. The rest of the barrel becomes heating fuel, tar, and about 10 other things during the refining process.

 

[SciFiMan]

...This is going to sound selfish, but wouldn't it be nice to get a tax break for owning a four cylinder, compact sedan....I know there are those who need bigger SUVs and Trucks for work and family, but it would be nice.

How many here have actually seen a huge ass SUV with more than 3 people in it? I know our 19mpg '98 Grand Caravan can hold 7 which it has done exactly twice in 3 years. Otherwise it's just the 4 of us at most and we'd all fit fine in a Mini with room for luggage for a weekend trip. Next year we'll probably replace the van and it will be something small (and fast).

 

[Newf]

I'm going to buy a motorcycle soon. Gas is pathetic up here. $1.06 per litre

 

[ahb11m]

if someone actually wanted to boycott fuel, you'd have to do it for over a month - most people probably don't realise this, but most big companies have already bought all their fuel for the year, and through that contract, the amounts are averaged out, while the companies try to ride the rises, they are getting less for their contract work


just my 2c