[pp.int.general] Big Brother in NL?

[Andrew Norton]

On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 2:27 AM, Reinier Bakels <r.bakels at planet.nl> wrote:
>> It is easy to solve both problems together.  Instead of road-pricing,
>> increase the gas tax.
>
> Note that gasoline price in Europe is about twice as high as in the US - so
> this mechanism is already used.

Not really, I drove about 45,000/year when I was in the UK too.

> For heavy gasoline (Diesel) there is a red colored variety with less tax
> which may not be used on public roads. Fraud is not uncommon.

Yeah, when I did my training with the traffic police, I was sometimes
on an inspection spot where we'd check for red diesel (as well as
general roadworthyness) They also have red diesel over here (very
common here, where there are lots of farms, and diesel pickups,
although diesel cars are rare).
>
> Taxes usually are based on "elasticity" considerations: a higher tax will
> drecrease sales, so an x % tax increase does not produce an x % yield
> increase, but less. People are so "addicted" to their car though, that a tax
> increase in this field has hardly any influence on tax yield. So the effect
> on behaviour influence is minor.

Right, this is where The UK was at 10 years ago, which led to the
blockades nationwide in the summer of 2000, of refineries. At one
point, the Burtonwood services on the M6 (the one near Warrington) was
selling it at 5GBP/litre (thats erm, 22GBP/gal) and had a queue a mile
long, because it was the only place left with any. In Liverpool, there
were only 3 stations in the whole city with fuel, and you could only
get 10GBP worth if you were part of a 'critical service' (such as
food, emergency services or transport) had had to show a current pay
slip to prove it to the police.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_protests_in_the_United_Kingdom#2000
Luckily, my car could use either leader or unleaded, and leaded was
easier to obtain.

Thats because tax was over 80% of the purchase price.

>
> We used to have a fligh tax which weas intended to reduce flying - again for
> the benefit of reducing CO2 exhaust. It had no effect. Because it was a
> national tax, people drove by car to nearby German or Belgian airports to
> avoid the tax - and to produce more rather than  less CO2 exhaust. Having
> said that, it must be admitted that airlines have an unjustified tax
> advantage over railways in Europe. Unlike in the US, railways are an
> excellent alternative for distances up to about 300 miles. Electrical trains
> are very energy-efficient: steel-on-steel losses are low, and on
> decelleration energy is fed back into the network.

In the northeast, there's a good rail network. The only time I've been
on a train in the US though was between Palo Alto (Stanford) and San
Fransisco, but the train was nice and comfy, moreso than British Rail.

>
> Governments have a tendency to do it wrong all the time. They spoil
> projects. And they fail to make useful tax incentives.

They listen to the businesses about what they want right now, to
maximise profit, never looking at what the country needs to ensure
long-term benefits. They only look as far ahead as the next election.

> And they maintain copyright until 70 years after the death of an author -
> which is outrageous!
>
> reinier
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