Commander in Thief

[Guy_b_g]

There is a tax on SUVs and they pay it every time they fill one up. When gas goes up to $3 or $4 again and all the SUVs are sitting in car lots unsold you see the public reaction to that tax.

[Montreux_Blue]

If you live in the Midwest, especially near the Great Lakes, four wheel drive is more than a good idea.

The solution..........

Just remember that when you're on welfare, your dependent on the government, and that's just the way they want it.

Dependent to buy crack???

[Toolmaker Tim]

SUV's

Want to see utter chaos, put 3-4 inches of snow on the roads south of the Mason Dixon line. What about people with disablities that need large vans to get around in. My nephew needs a van to haul all of his equipment and wheelchair around. Lets tax him. My best friend has the same situation because of Muscular Distrophy. Lets Tax Him! I'm sure his full size van would be fuel efficent with a four banger. How about some COMMON SENSE!

[DiverRay]

How about some COMMON SENSE!

I second this statement!!! The problem is, most of the common sense seems to "go away" when people get elected!! Most of us, including those of us on this coast, don't like government mandating what we drive. I sold my Suburban, because I didn't use it much at all any more, and it was cost too much to register and insure. It was an 8 passenger 4X4 Diesel, and I got about 20 mpg with it. Used it for hauling a Zodiac with 5 to 7 divers most of the time, and a few trips up a jeep trail to the top of White Mountain in California the rest of the time.

[Korr]

They could raise the price of all DMV fees by one dollar? Increase the price of speeding tickets by 10% & all other fines/tickets...not sure if this one helps the state or city. They can raise the tax on alcohol like they are doing with cigarettes. About the whole big car thing you guys have going on, I really am stuck on what to think. I live in Union City & work in San Jose. I see alot of those big cars, trucks & suv's either being used for work or driven by some jackass who thinks it's cool to drive a big car. The worst offenders are the luxury suv drivers, the kids with the lincoln and cadillac ones with big wheels and shiny rims. There was this one guy in my apartment complex who had a brand new Yamaha R1 & brand new Cadillac escalade still with dealer plates! A month later the escalade was gone and replaced with another suv(cheaper). I just don't get why people would rather buy a $50,000 vehicle and settle for renting cheap apartments when they could buy a home instead. Sorry i think i'm going off topic and ranting

[Montreux_Blue]

I just don't get why people would rather buy a $50,000 vehicle and settle for renting cheap apartments when they could buy a home instead.(

Who said they were buying it, they were just borrowing it for a couple months until the repo man came to pick it up. My crappy ex-neighbors did that on about 4 cars in a year time frame and tore them up for free!

[tarzan]

I'm sitting here reading this thread and I think.Hey this is America,where we have the means and the freedom to choose our own cars and lifestyles.We work for it.Or at least the majority do.This country was founded on the premise that people should think for them selves and government should serve the people.Not the other way around.
Now I have an '01 chevy pickup that sits in the driveway and I drive an escort or one of my motorcycles to work and back.I conserve as much as I can because I think it is the right thing for me and my familly.
I do not belive we need the government to tax everything they can to extract every penny they can out of us.Whether its with the intention of making us do what some buroucrats idea of the right thing is or because they think they have to think for the people .
I dont believe the government(which happens not to know how to manage its own budget )is any better at managing banks,car companies or any other business.
It amazes me when I see people agreeing that more taxes are agood thing to strongarm us the people.
We dont need more taxes in my opinion, we need people to demand that the goverment quit spending on everything they can create a program for.We need less spending.
JAT

[Big Daddy Funk]

As an outsider...If I may.

I live in Canada and we certainly have our own set of problems here. I did however see a Conspiracy theory documentary called Zeitgeist Wake up the revolution is now. The begining is difficult to watch but hanging with it was worthwhile. I'm not big on these "documentaries" but this one threw me.
I have travelled through most of the states and I have a number of friends there. Basically there is not much difference in the peoples.
Americans are well know for defending their rights and freedoms. So I wonder how some of these things slipped by. If you get the chance to watch this documentary, Take the time. It directly affects all Americans and a good neighbour should bring it to your attention to it. That's me. Gas prices here are a dollar a gallon higher here due to taxes. And we prduce it . Thx Rick

[tarzan]

quote"Gas prices here are a dollar a gallon higher here due to taxes. And we prduce it . Thx Rick "

Hey Big Daddy,
I was just up in Canada last week and gas was averaging 86 cents a liter.
Isnt that like 3 something a gallon?Or do you mean your gas tax?

[b.walker5]

They stereotype of the greedy American who drives a gas guzzling suv with smoke spewing out the tail pipe leaving a wake of dead spotted owls and expired baby seals is preposterous.

At the risk of wading into a political debate, that stereotype is a wordwide phenonemen and for the most part true. Our city streets are crowded with suburban mums (moms to you guys ) driving the kids to school and doing the shopping with thier "gas guzzling" SUV's. We have coined the phrase "Remuera Taxi's" (pronounced Rem-u-era) for them in reference to the abundance of them in one particular affluent suburb in our largest city. My many trips "across the pond" to Australia reveal the same thing in the cities there, and travelling from state to state on the outback roads also produces evidence of that, although they do tend to be dirtier out in the country. I'm no greenie, but our government is also proposing taxes on these larger vehicles and I applaud it if it means getting some of them off the city streets, where for the most part they don't belong. We have been paying a mileage tax on diesel vehicles for years called "Road User Charges" which is purchased in advance 1000 km's at a time and this is so all users of diesel pay the same price for the fuel, but those who use the roads i.e. truck drivers and some models of Remuera Taxi's pay for the upkeep of the roads. I use diesel both for home heating and for my 4x4, which is road registered but used off road most of the time, so I'm both happy and unhappy about that one. We pay on average $1.70 NZD a litre ($7.74 a gallon)for petrol and $1.00 a litre for diesel. In US dollars that $4.68 a gallon for petrol and $2.75 for diesel. The difference in price reflects the the fact that road tax is already added to the petrol, so no seperate road miles are needed. My point to all of this is that things arent that much different for us and everytime your president farts, whoever he may be, it's smelled around the world (and the last one was smelly , I have no comment on the latest one yet) and many goverments are blackmailled into mirroring it, using the age old favorite bargaining chip of "free trade deals".

[oseaghdha]

I don't understand why there are people willing to roll over and allow the gubmit to decide what kind of car you can drive.
There are cars out there that get 40mpg today. If you want one, go buy it.

If someone wants to buy an "Urban Assault Vehicle", so what? Let them have it. The reason SUV sales were big is because that's what people wanted, so that is what the auto mfgs produced. The sales of big vehicles are inversely proportional to fuel prices. So the greenies say, "Aha! We just jack up fuel prices to get rid of all those eeville SUVs. For the children!

If someone wants to own an old stinky motorcycle, what of it? If you think that they nanny staters will stop meddeling when they get to your doorstep, you are delusional.

They are taxing smokes out of existance, next it will be sugar, grease, booze, salt, bacon, BBQ grills, it goes on and on.

They wont be happy until we are all dressed in Mao suits riding bicycles and praying to Gaia every morning, and turning in our neighbors and family for Carbon Violations.

[randy]

I have no problem with the government passing laws to help the environment, even if it includes so called gas-guzzling or high-polluting vehicles, incinerators, whatever. What I DO have a problem with is the method they use. Instead of just outlawing the manufacture of the offending device, they turn it into another opportunity to grab more money out of our pockets by taxing us into submission. Remember the Boston Tea Party? That allows the bloodletting to drag on for years, the only winner being the federal government. Where is the new tax money going? Anyone read about that? I'd really like to know the lie they made up to cover that one! Ok, end of rant.

[Big Daddy Funk]

Shufflin' off to Buffalo

quote"Gas prices here are a dollar a gallon higher here due to taxes. And we prduce it . Thx Rick "

Hey Big Daddy,
I was just up in Canada last week and gas was averaging 86 cents a liter.
Isnt that like 3 something a gallon?Or do you mean your gas tax?

Hey Tarzan. In Ontario Southern the fuel is .97 per litre Which is approx. 3.91cdn. per US Gallon. (about $3.13usd per us gallon) With exhange it is cheaper for us to cross the border and fill up in Buffalo. The taxes built into every litre are posted on every pump and account for 65% of the price per litre.
Even taking into account the 20% exchange, 13% tax and sometimes duty charges, The savings to us on large or small items is worth the trip. Thx Rick

[oseaghdha]

Just remember: Both State and Federal governments realize more profit from a gallon of gas than Exxon-Mobil, BP-Amoco, or Shell does.

[drooker56]

I believe in an America where we are free so if you want to drive your peterbuilt 3 blocks to the dairyqueen cause you don't feel like walking great. Do it! I am so tired of everyone trying to tell everyone else how to live and what to do. If its my money, my land, or my car stay the hell out of my business. who cares how many people are in a yukon? I wish I could afford one I would drive around all day alone asking greenies where the best place to dump oill in the river is without getting cuaght. (not to do it just to piss 'em off.)

Why do I live in a world where somone can be beeten and raped within earshot and no one bothers to help, but if you drive too big a vehicle alone everyone treats you like a murderer???????????