Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Go Canada!

One of my Canadian friends mentioned how, in their federal budget, there will be extra fees attached to the purchase of new "gas guzzling" automobiles, and rebates on purchases of fuel efficient vehicles (not just hybrids either).

Hooray for a government that is getting it right! An article I found on the CBC Website says that it will hurt families who don't have a choice when it comes to smaller vehicles. I find it hard to believe that families HAVE to choose SUV's. Our minivan doesn't get the best mileage in the world, but it is not too much worse than a regular sedan.

It makes me glad to see a government holding those who want to drive large vehicles that waste resources financially responsible for their excess instead of trying to punish people who can't afford to drive new cars, which from what I can understand is what the Tailpipe Tax would do.

I would agree that imposing higher taxes on cars with higher emission levels would be good for the air, perhaps people would be more careful about taking care of their cars and driving cleaner cars, except that it seems to me, that people who drive older cars do so because that's what they can afford.

1 comment:

C. Carico said...

Thank you for the great post. In our "Your Money or Your Life" book E and I read that 92% of the world's population never experiences the luxury of owning a car. We have a distorted perspective here in the U.S. People who own a Honda or Toyota think they are humble compared to the Mercedes or Jaguar car owners, but they are in the top 8% richest in the world. Not owning a car helped me get out of debt. Viva la bicycle! Burn calories not gas!