Let's also address the surprise tax, which wasn't a surprise. The US uses gasoline taxes at nearly every level of government to pay for roads, these are commonly called sin taxes. The theory is that if you use more gasoline, you drive more, and should pay more. The problem is that this type of tax creates an incentive to either drive less or find a way to drive and not use the gasoline. Hybrids, PHEV's, and electric vehicles came along. In 2022 I purchased my Volvo XC90 Recharge PHEV. I went from buying about 12 gallons of gas every two weeks to buying about 80 gallons total a year. This represents an almost 75% decrease in gasoline purchased. It also means I paid 75% less in taxes that go directly to the roads. I literally gave myself a tax cut. As a Republican... win.
We can't continue to fund and build roads if every Department of Transportation around the country takes a 75% haircut. Installing a GPS on every vehicle will probably result in a civil war, if it is even Constitutional. The answer Trump has come up with is simple. Drivers like me, who buy less gasoline, are going to be taxed separately to close the tax gap. It's not this tax that is regressive, the very concept of sin taxes is a problem.
Obama funded SCHIP (a child health program) by adding a tax on cigarettes. Half of Americans quit smoking. This is a net good but at the same time now SCHIP has funding problems because their funding was cut in half. Indiana just tripled cigarette taxes to close a budget gap. This will actually not close the gap, people will simply quit buying cigarettes.
