andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2009-11-16 11:01 am
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Delicious LiveJournal Links for 11-16-2009

[identity profile] call-waiting.livejournal.com 2009-11-16 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I must admit I don't understand the reasons for taxation based on distance travelled. We already have a taxation mechanism which accurately encapsulates the pollution caused by a vehicle, and which rewards drivers for selecting a more fuel-efficient vehicle. It even tends to increase per-mile at peak hours, and approximates the wear and tear caused to the roads. That tax is simply fuel duty.

To the naive observer, it seems they should simply scrap vehicle tax and whack up fuel duty. While taxation per-mile achieves one of the goals, of getting people to cut out unnecessary journey, once a driver has decided that he *has* to nip down to the shops, what's to persuade him to take the Smart Car instead of the Hummer?

[identity profile] a-pawson.livejournal.com 2009-11-16 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
The idea behind is to try and build in an incentive to reduce congestion. Fuel costs are flat no matter wheere you live, but by charging people different amounts depending on where they drive, you can avoid penalising people who live in rural areas where there is probably no public transport and no congestion.

[identity profile] call-waiting.livejournal.com 2009-11-16 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Charging different rates based on location would seem to make sense -- reduce peak congestion and localised atmospheric pollution -- but the article only mentions a flat rate of €0.03 per km.

Driving a kilometre in the city is already generally more expensive than driving a kilometre in rural areas, due to traffic, traffic controls etc. I'm sure this effect isn't enough to normalise the system such that removal of vehicle duty will sufficiently compensate those in rural areas for the extra fuel costs, though!

Additionally, a non-constant tax rate would have to be carefully crafted in order to avoid encouraging people to travel further to save money: say, driving all the way round the city rather than straight through. If you happened to be driving a Prius or an Insight that wouldn't burn too much more fuel in city traffic, then the long way round could cause more pollution but still work out cheaper.