Higher CAFE Standards Means Less Taxes For Uncle Sam
In yesterday’s post I commented about how President Obama’s new CAFE standards will contribute to the economic crisis, but it gets even worse because it appears on the surface that they will also lower taxes for the consumer due to not needing to buy as much gas. If our gas consumption is cut by 30% because we’re getting better mileage in our cars, that also means the government receives that much less in tax revenue from this source.
Now, if you think for a minute that the powers that be don’t already know this and are going to let you get away with sending less of your hard earned money to Washington, guess again. You can bet they are already working on new schemes to increase the lost tax revenue somehow. The fed thrives on its never ending lust for more money, so they surely won’t pass this apparent oversight by.
Proposed ways that the government may come up with to generate those extra taxes are, tracking the number of miles you drive via GPS and charging based specifically on this factor. Another way to get back the loss is to just raise taxes on a gallon of gas based on some average actual savings implemented by the increased CAFE standards. Of course, with Congress’ infinite wisdom on how to extract an ever increasing amount of money out of our pockets, there are probably several ways they’ve thought of to make up the difference.
Ultimately, Congress will probably look at this as an opportunity to not just replace the lost revenue, they will most likely find a way to increase taxes. They will probably base it on the fact that we’re supposedly saving money on gas, therefore we can afford to pay higher taxes.
However you look at it though, it will cost you more in the future to drive. Increased CAFE standards will add approximately $1,300 to $1,500 to the cost of a new car. There will also be inspection fees associated with the new emissions standards and yes, look for higher taxes at the pump, if not higher gas prices as well in the next several years.
Will the government ever figure out how to take less money from us? That probably won’t happen until they figure out how to spend less money, and that more than likely, will never happen.
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