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Comment by kspacewalk2 | Hacker News Reader

You can also tax based on engine volume, in order to penalize gas-powered vehicles more and still penalize curb weight indirectly. Probably a formula combining the two would be ideal.

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Displacement taxes are terrible. There are many instances of large displacement engines (e.g. modern GM LS/LT series engines) that are lighter and more efficient than comparably performing smaller turbocharged engines. Penalize heavy vehicles that damage pavement, or vehicles with poor pedestrian safety, or gas guzzlers, but don't penalize one aspect of engine design (displacement) that isn't directly harmful.

I propose we tax vehicles based on their 0-60 time. Soft tire compounds and abundant wheel torque and available power are directly correlated with tire wear and tire wear directly translates into particulate pollution.

This tax would also have the side effect of being slightly more burdensome on particular demographics that are most likely to come up with half baked "let's tax X" ideas that fail to pass even the most cursory analysis as these demographics tend to drive fast high performance sedans.

Edit: Just to be clear, lower number = more tax. Work vans pay little, high performance toys pay a lot. This is a semi-satirical proposal.

So you want to tax the lightest cars and give a pass to large trucks which have a poor 0-60 time? Just like the comment you are replying to, you're taxing the wrong metric. Need to be more direct in taxing the problem.

> You can also tax based on engine volume, in order to penalize gas-powered vehicles more and still penalize curb weight indirectly.

It's basically what many countries in the EU do. France leading the charge (buying for example a Ferrari with a shitload of horsepower will be accompanied with a one-time tax of $40 000 USD (well, EUR) you have to pay to the state) and, no, people paying 200 K EUR for a brand new car are not happy about paying 240 K EUR so the tax "works".

It's also why the "downsizing" of ICE is happening: much smaller engines, but with turbos. And they do consume less fuel.

Of course now that all the EU countries pushed like crazy for sales of hybrid and EVs, they're now coming up with new legislation in the work that is going to take weight into account (because EV batteries tend to be heavy and they have to find a way to tax EVs).

I mean: those in the EU who bought an EV are kinda getting ripped of... The price of electricity is through the roof (in some cities like Brussels it simply doubled YOY) and they'll now be facing soon a tax on weight (it's going to be a EU directive so all the countries will have to adapt).

What a way to thank people for not buying gas guzzlers!

> The price of electricity is through the roof (in some cities like Brussels it simply doubled YOY)

Belgium probably buys a lot of France nuclear and France has been retrofitting their reactors and there have been a lot of them off-grid for the last year or two. Add to this the Ukraine war energy issues and lack of alternative sources and you get a short-term mess.

Belgium and France really need to look at how to get their respective countries more solarized like Germany - then use solar+batteries to balance the crazy electricity spikes.

Higher taxes on fuel would do this too.

Larger heavier vehicles need more energy to get around.

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