Sin taxes are suffering from a shortage of sinners

I worked at a liquor store when I was 21 and lived in a midwestern bible-belt state. We had flyers at the counter educating customers to vote against a raise of sin-taxes (alcohol, tobacco, possibly adult material, I don't recall) to offset a budget deficit (specifically upkeep of roads and highways).

It's not right for my vices to pay for your infrastructure. Tax tobacco to fund cancer research. Tax alcohol to advance treatment of liver disease. Tax porn to fund, I dunno, therapy for people who can't view it in moderation.

On a similar note, I do NOT have a problem with paying for schools even though I don't have kids. It raises property values and that's a benefit to me and everyone in the district. Plus, educating young people benefits society as a whole. I'm not some "don't tax me" guy because taxes are good. They just should be limited and targeted and not levied unfairly against those with bad habits for the benefit / relief of all.

That said, I apologize for quitting drinking. Research into treating cirrhosis of the liver will have to take a moderate hit and that's my fault. /s but only sorta

Fuel taxes should be raised to pay for road infrastructure. Align the incentives so that people can make good decisions about whether to drive or not. And shippers can make better decisions about whether to ship via rail, ship, or truck.

EVs are breaking this funding model.

I'd suggest curbside parking should be charged everywhere. Free omnipresent parking is what has hollowed out American cities. Car storage is an awful use of public space.

You are woefully incorrect. in most places EV's road taxes are massively disproportionate to the amount of road tax an ICE vehicle would pay.

Here in Texas, I would ordinarily pay about $30/year in road taxes on gasoline driving a 30mpg vehicle 12,000/mi anually.

But I have an EV instead so instead I pay:

$500 in surcharge for the first year of registration and $200 surcharge for every year thereafter.

Oh whoops I misspoke; I actually have 3 EVs so despite being one person, I pay approximately 25x more road tax than the average driver here.

I'm not necessarily complaining about the /amount/ of tax but the simple fact that it is both disproportionately applied and far too low overall. The state should charge based on actual mileage, but since they just eliminated state inspections, good luck with that. Second best alternative is to make it a flat surcharge for all.

It's a good argument, but is your math right?

Texas looks to have a state tax of 20 cents a gallon, plus a federal tax of 18 cents a gallon. 12000 miles at 30 mpg is 400 gallons. The state portion is thus $80/year, and the combined is $152. Which leaves your argument mostly intact, but off by ~2.5x or ~5x depending on how you count. Or did I mess up the math myself?

Also, it appears the average driven per vehicle per year in Texas is more like 16000 miles (https://www.trustedchoice.com/insurance-articles/wheels-wing...). This would make the $200/year surcharge close to equivalent for the total missing gas taxes (state and federal) for a vehicle that is likely heavier than average.