Comment by cma
6 hours ago
Heavier commercial trucks that run on diesel tend to cause more damage. Scales with roughly 4th power of axle load.
6 hours ago
Heavier commercial trucks that run on diesel tend to cause more damage. Scales with roughly 4th power of axle load.
That's a bad argument. There are gasoline trucks with a GVWR of ~20,000 pounds and diesel cars that weigh less than a Honda Accord.
The better argument is that diesel is worse for air quality and then it's a pigouvian tax.
The realpolitik argument is that fewer people have diesel vehicles and democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. But taxing commercial trucks is also a pretty sneaky way of taxing ~everything while pretending to not, so it's also the principal/agent problem. Legislators want to spend money while pretending not to take it from you.