Up until now, The People's Republic of China taxed vehicles based on weight and through tolls. (You didn't think Chinese motorists were tax-free did you?) Now they're eliminating tolls and other road taxes in favor of a fuel tax. Apparently this radical idea will mean that people who drive more will pay more and those who drive less will pay less. The China Car Times isn't over the moon about the cutting edge concept. While they repeat Beijing's claim that the new system will push car companies into developing "other alternative fuel cars," they also believe "the driver gets pinched in the pocket and has to take public transport… Clearly the Mandarins in Beijing have not taken public transport in China in the last decade and the last place I'd like to be on a Monday morning is on a packed diesel fume spewing bus with my nose pushed firmly in someones arm pit." The tax takes effect next March.
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Once again, the Chinese show why their civilization has existed, intact, for 5000 years. Imagine, a taxation system that actually encouraged the use of public transportation and discouraged private, single-passenger commuting……
” this has sent a collective shock down the backs of 1.3 billion people who really dont want to pay tax.” This sounds almost democratic.
Have you ever ridden the a transit bus in China? The transit buses we have here in N. America feel almost like Limos in comparison. I don’t know where you got that picture, but the last time I visited China and rode a transit bus (in Guanzhou), I had to be pushed in by a “bus stuffer” and was quite amazed the bus didn’t tip over whenever it pulled in and out of a bus stop.
Maybe the tax will also fund better transit.
I dare U.S. politicians to get off their inefficient CAFE high and start talking about a gas tax. It would be much more economically efficient and would get people into smaller cars by changing demand and not supply (always the wrong thing to change in the equation).