Oregon’s $1,000 impact tax on 20-year-old vehicles

[BDF]

Would like to see Gov. Brown outfitted with one of these.
http://www.ecouterre.com/argentinas-methane-backpacks-turn-cow-farts-into-green-energy/

[Laowho]

Okeedokee..............

Glad you agree, cuz there wasn't anything in cooldude's original post that even begins to approximate the need for a conspiratorial explanation, unless everyone since Reagan is a conspiracy theorist re: too much big brother/government, which was was all that he said. Since when was a tinfoil hat needed to complain about that? But I get your dismissive drift/tone...duly noted, okeedokee? We're all indebted to you for your incisive contribution.

[Laowho]

 

[XH29N0G]

All this said, and joking aside.  We have a responsibility to the roads, environment, etc.... I live near a state line and I see the difference in roads going crossing it and others. Methane may not be the biggest concern facing us today, but it is something we should deal with as part of stewardship of our future and our kids futures.

Methane turns out to be quite important for energy budgets in the atmosphere.  It is not the only thing in the energy budgets, but something we should pay attention too.  There are big unknowns about the source terms.  Oil and Gas operations  say that they lose virtually nothing to the atmosphere (recover it al).  I work with some people who monitor methane in the air and pick up all sorts of plumes coming from those areas.  Recovering it would make them more money and would also reduce emissions.  Other people I interact with pick up plumes coming from urban areas where the likely candidate is leaky pipes, landfills, etc....  The leaky pipes are also lost $$.  There is technology to measure it (and to fingerprint some of its sources - including biogenic and ancient) that has been developed and this is what I am getting into.  It may be slowed in the near future because of the climate in government, but it will come back.   

The key is the big picture and the longer term picture.  We monitor methane here (I am not in Ca) because it is needed for policy decisions and because there are fees coming down the pipeline (some in place) on the states for this from the federal government.  These may go away in the short term, but in the long term they will come back. 

[Laowho]

Methane is the most egregious of compounds (for our purposes, b/c of the free radical halogenation cycle in the upper atmosphere), and research says sumthin like 35% of current methane release is attributable to the livestock industry in toto, but the bigger threat is the release of trapped methane in the permafrost, both sea bed and terrestrial. It's estimated that 95% of all ocean species, and 70% of all terrestrial species, went extinct during the Great Dying 250 million years ago--the greatest extinction event ever, and only known mass insect extinction--due to sea bed permafrost releases.

[cooldude]

I wonder what the eggheads and corrupt politicians would do about laying an old car tax on this Mopar...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idgdb--Ax84


A 1939 Dodge Electric truck.

Would they tax it anyways, despite it being electric?

I notice that every time the egghead politicians get a knee jerk idea to do something stupid, they always come up with the same old, lame excuses. Its usually "for the children", or "for your safety", and the old standby..."for the environment".

Many evils are committed in the name of these three.

So, I wonder what would the eggheads say if we all just converted our old Mopars to run electric? Maybe even solar charged them. Would they pass the stupid tax on old cars anyways, and just ignore the electric angle?

(I think they would)

[XH29N0G]

My guess is it depends what state they live in.  If they were able to register it as an antique in Oregon then it wouldn't be taxed. I don't know what the laws are on states that have road use fees for electric vehicles if they are antiques. I keep older vehicles because they are relatively cheap to operate.  My two youngest are a 2000 and a 1999, the other two are older - one with historic plates and the other not (not b/c it isn't old enough but b/c it is a daily driver and I follow the rules). Since I don't do much driving anyway, I have also thought that the next car will be electric or hybrid.  So I am likely to be taxed.  I was never into the SUV or stuff like that.  I know a strange mix for this car, but that is just how it is.

[BDF]

Looks like CA will try to tax ALL cars based on value. 
http://www.capoliticalreview.com/top-stories/browns-proposal-increases-gas-tax-by-43-percent-adds-new-fees/

[JB400]

I doubt that it'll pass.

[BDF]

I doubt that it'll pass.

Really?
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2017-04-06/vote-nears-for-california-gas-tax-fee-hike
This is probably why...
https://youtu.be/KyWPA-g-NFE

[cooldude]

California is so screwed up, that the rest of the country could use them as an example of what not to do.  

I bet little kids ( in the free part of America) think that, if they dont wash behind their ears and eat their vegetables,that they might wake up one morning, and realize to their horror, that they have turned into Californians!  

I am so amazed at the level of pure stupidity coming from California, that its just beyond words.

Are they really still part of America? They seem to be from a different planet you know?

[XH29N0G]

One thing I notice when I go on trips is the huge difference in quality of roads when crossing from one state to the next, and I don't like what it does to my car  . 

Having the ordinary driver foot the bill is just a symptom of system that is broken and broke ($$).  We have been living off the backs of our parent's infrastructure.  Someone is going to have to pick up and rebuild at some point, but the money has to come from somewhere. That's my rant. 

[cooldude]

I can remember the roads from 40 plus years ago, more pot holes on paved roads, and there were a lot of unpaved roads too. The unpaved roads could get pretty rough. I sort of figure that had some part in cars not lasting as many miles as todays cars usually do. Back then, a hundred grand on the odometer meant the car was usually worn out, if it made it that far.

But the cars back then were built beefier than todays cars, and that probably made them more able to handle the gravel roads, which were usually washboarded really bad.

Driving down an early 70s gravel road in a giant plume of dust, could be like a scene from Startrek, where Scotty comes up to the bridge and says "Shes breaking up captain.We canna take much more of this!" Everything rattling and shaking. Sometimes it might rattle a grandpas false teeth out.

But today,we are going to live in the scenario of the worst of both worlds.


With 20 Trillion in national debt on the books already, and most states also insolvent with debt, most corporations loaded up to their eyeballs in debt, and most consumers loaded to the limit in personal debt...and perhaps another 200 Trillion dollars in federal and state debt lurking in unfunded liabilities (pensions, retirement, etc), and perhaps 10 times that much debt in the bond and derivitives markets worldwide (thanks to the zero interest rate policies of central banks), I think we will probably see a total economic collapse, including the currency itself, before the roads get paved again.

So the roads will continue to get worse and worse.

Pot holes will begin to be able to destroy the cars undercarriage,making alignment impossible, or even actually wreck a car if it hits one at speed. Hitting the pot holes of the future will be like hitting a cow.

And all of this with todays lighter,more fragile, highly computerized (more sensitive) economy boxes that we drive today.

I dont think the cars of today can handle that sort of roads, and hold together long enough to rack up a hundred grand on the odometer. Makes you think twice about going out and taking on another 50 grand of debt for a new car or truck, dont it? Whats the point?