From: drew@juliet.cs.colorado.edu (Drew Eckhardt)
Subject: Re: H. Ross Perot's proposed gas tax
Organization: University of Colorado at Boulder
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 21:55:23 GMT

In article <26053@oasys.dt.navy.mil> bense@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Ronald Bense) writes:
>In rec.autos.driving, nau@ssesco.com (William Nau) writes:
>
>>Ok, I can't help myself.  My problem with the gas tax is that it is a poor
>>people tax.  Ross with his 3 billion dollars won't even notice it.
>
>It isn't. And for exactly the same reason that the rich won't notice
>it, they'll pay most of it. Further statements are made below and in
>other posts.
>
>>...  Some poor guy who can barely keep is '77 LTD running will be
>>trashed by it.  The percentage of your income that goes to this will
>
>If he can barely afford to keep it running, I imagine that also includes
>repairs on an old "luxury" car. Let him get an econobox, like anyone

How much does a econobox in workable condition cost, meaning that 
it won't need the same costly repairs as a dilapitated heap?  $2000?
$3000? $5000?

Repairs on older American cars are dirt cheap if you provide 
the labor yourself.  If you have a decent junkyard near you,
a power steering gear box replacement runs $15, a carbuerator 
$10.  Compare that with prices for newer cars, where there 
are fewer donors in the junkyard, and things like fuel injection 
systems are just plain more expensive.

You can rebuild a 350 chevy (new bearings, oil pump, rings, seals for the 
valves) for ~$100 parts.  Compare that to what it will cost to fix 
your imported econobox.  

At highway speeds, most V8 powered cars aren't taxing the engine 
that's almost idling, where as your econobox will be turning 
more rev's and putting more wear on the engine.  An old V8 will run 
for several hundred thousand miles before a rebuild if you don't 
abuse it and remember to change your oil (at .89 a quart from targets)
often enough.


Newer, lighter cars often have less excess metal on brake rotors, 
in the interest of saving weight and reducing cost.  With an 
older car, you can turn your drums at $8 a pop until hell 
freezes over where as on a new car you'll be looking at new 
rotors (A two orders of magnitude difference).

>else who doesn't want to pay the piper. It would save him on repair
>costs, too. Overall, I imagine that it will be to the poor's benefit
>to move to less expensive to maintain cars that use less gas. It will

Repair costs on older cars can be significantly lower, because 
of the increased parts availability and better reliability.

As far as other maintenence costs : 

Oil runs .89 cents a quart at targets.  An extra two quarts 
every 3000 miles is not going to break anyone.   For all practical 
purposes, most sizes of non-offroad, non-performance tires run 
about the same.  A rubber belt is a rubber belt.  Antifreeze is 
antifreeze.

>also have the desired effect of removing old, run-down, oil-smoke spewing
>gas hogs from the road that couldn't pass an emissions test if the exhaust
>was split up for ten equivalent cars. (Or do you oppose emissions tests
>also?)
>
>>Another problem is the desire to use this to pay off the deficit.  What
>>does gas have to do with any of that?  Gas tax should be used to pay for
>>roads, cleaning up the enviornment, and other such stuff that is related
>>to using it.
>
>Well, gee, remove the debt (although it will be a while) and there will
>be more money for all of those things. Look beyond tomorrow or next
>week, and what you get for your dime today, and see what it will enable
>you to recieve in a few years.

You know what congress means when they have a budget cut?  It means 
that they have made a cut from next year's projected increases.  Congress
will spend irregardless of weather or not there's money to back it.  

Of course, we can't REALLY cut spending because voters would get pissed
if their favorite program was cut.  

Know how the airforce has $400 hammers?  Those really are different 
from your average, garden variety $15 hammer.  They have a mountain
of paperwork attached to them, along with the accompanying bueraucracy.  

Contract out all government services to private industry, and you'll 
loose those inefficiencies, and spend less without a cut in services.

The national debt in itself isn't just a problem in itself, it's a symptom of 
congress's ongoing spending spree and a bureacratic mess.  Until you 
take care of it's causes, you will never get rid of it.

-- 
Microsoft is responsible for propogating the evils it calls DOS and Windows, 
IBM for AIX (appropriately called Aches by those having to administer it), but 
marketing's sins don't come close to those of legal departments.
Boycott AT&T for their absurd anti-BSDI lawsuit.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving