Spinning Your Tax Structure

Automoblog saw the story about a possible tax hike coming out of Washington State on gas guzzles and had an interesting take on it.

Basically, punishing people for bad behavior may not be the best way to go. Instead, look for ways to reward good behavior. Set a new tax on all cars, then lower the taxes on those who buy more fuel efficient cars.

The end results are the same, but it certainly puts a great spin on it.

In case you forgot, here's the tax structure Washington is proposing (from the bill (pdf) itself):

15 (b) Passenger vehicles that have an established EPA fuel economy
16 rating must be taxed according to the EPA fuel economy rating as
17 follows:

EPA Fuel Economy Rating	Tax	Tons CO2
MPG		(12,000 Vehicle Miles Traveled)
10 or fewer	$ 240	12
11	$ 220	11
12	$ 200	10
13-14	$ 180	9
15-16	$ 160	8
17-18	$ 140	7
19-21	$ 120	6
22-26	$ 100	5
27-34	$ 80	4
35-48	$ 60	3
49 +	$ 40	2

31 (c) Passenger vehicles that do not have an established EPA fuel
32 economy rating must be taxed according to their engine displacement
33 size as follows:

Engine Displacement/Size	Tax
(Liters)
4.0 or More	$240
3.0 - 4.0	$180
1.5 - 3.0	$120
Less then 1.5	$80

By the way, this bill is unlikely to go forward "because it was proposed late in the session. The Legislature's cutoff date for new bills is Friday."