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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

So tax consumption at the pump progressively. Your first 10 galls are taxed normally, then progressively add more tax every whole gallon above that.

Poor people will buy in 10- gallon instances, less poor people won't bother and will just fill it up.

Or tax on displacement at the DMV. Anything from this year on above 1.3 liters gets taxed progressively more so that gas gas-sippers pay relatively little and gas guzzlers pay lots more at the DMV (registration).

[edit] fixed word usage.

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Fortunately, any kind of displacement-based tax on vehicles would have to be a state-run affair (A Federal Department of Motor Vehicles would be far, far too Kafkaesque or perhaps even Lovecraftian). So good luck, California, you seem to like trying out this kind of stuff :-)

Although excise taxes that you already pay at the DMV are probably a decent proxy for engine displacement already. 5.4L V8 pickup truck = $45k sticker price, vs $15k 1.3L shitbox subcompact.

Displacement taxes are a terrible idea and lead to unintended consequences. Displacement has only a weak correlation with carbon emissions. Which is worse: a 1.3l engine driven 30000km per year or a 5.0l engine driven 3000km per year? And if the manufacturer adds a turbocharger to the 1.3l engine the real-world fuel consumption will rise significantly even though displacement remains unchanged.

But people aren't trading trips. People have to go where they need to go. It's better to have the person travelling 30000 year do it in a less polluting vehicle over the person driving 3000.

Your definition of spendthrift is flipped. spendthrift (n) a person who spends money in an extravagant, irresponsible way.

thanks! fixed.

This is often very had to track. The solution is income tax breaks for the poor. Australia did this with our carbon pricing. The tax free threshold(income below which you're not taxed on) was raised a significantly to compensate the poor without having to track their actual usage.

-Poor people will buy in 10- gallon instances, less poor people won't bother and will just fill it up.

Wrong. I'd pump 10, shut the pump off, and pump another 10, etc. Why pay the tax if I can break up the full tank into a few transactions.

Most credit cards don't allow consecutive charges at gas stations from the same holder. Not in my experience anyway.

You could pay cash multiple times, but then you'd have to go into the hut a couple of times. Yes you could game it, but people with money won't bother over a couple of bucks.

> Most credit cards don't allow consecutive charges at gas stations from the same holder. Not in my experience anyway.

I have never had this issue. The gas pump stops pumping at $99 and forces a restart. Back when gas was $4/gallon it took 3 restarts to fill up the boat. :/

Interesting, it might have to do with some kind of likelihood of fraud occurring at a particular location score for the service station. So stations in areas where more stolen CC fraud occurs, these stops are in check.

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