Comment Supporting YOU with my tax dollars! (Score 1) 508
I am the proud owner of a Lincoln Navigator. It gets 15-18 mpg. I purchased my SUV for several reasons.
1. Family safety. My family is safer in my SUV than in a traditional car. I do not drive at high speeds around turns or in inclement weather, so I am less concerned about roll-overs.
2. I do take the vehicle where 4WD is needed. I live in the American West, very near lots of open land that is extremely pleasurable to explore.
3. I live where it snows and 4WD is much easier than dealing with chains.
4. I coach my son's athletic teams and haul around more stuff than I could fit in a standard car.
5. I have the discretionary income to afford it.
It is also interesting to note that I pay more than my share of taxes to own my SUV. I pay more to register my car. I pay more gas taxes, because I burn more gas. These taxes pay for maintaining the roads, building new ones, and paying for mass transit systems that cannot pay for themselves.
I am all for improving gas mileage, even eliminating gas as a fuel. But be realistic. If you improve the average fuel economy by 20%, then taxes must be increased 20% to create equivalent revenue to support the infrastructure. By the time the MPG on my SUV is doubled, so will the MPG on all the other "standard" cars.
So, whats the solution? Stop complaining about SUV and come up with an equivalent solution that meets the needs of the market. If I had a choice of spending an extra $5k to double my MPG or go Electric, with all the same feature I have, I would have done so in a heartbeat.
Don't waste your time trying to change the dynamics of the marketplace, satisfy them instead!
Cheers,
Spending $50 to fill my gas tank for YOU
1. Family safety. My family is safer in my SUV than in a traditional car. I do not drive at high speeds around turns or in inclement weather, so I am less concerned about roll-overs.
2. I do take the vehicle where 4WD is needed. I live in the American West, very near lots of open land that is extremely pleasurable to explore.
3. I live where it snows and 4WD is much easier than dealing with chains.
4. I coach my son's athletic teams and haul around more stuff than I could fit in a standard car.
5. I have the discretionary income to afford it.
It is also interesting to note that I pay more than my share of taxes to own my SUV. I pay more to register my car. I pay more gas taxes, because I burn more gas. These taxes pay for maintaining the roads, building new ones, and paying for mass transit systems that cannot pay for themselves.
I am all for improving gas mileage, even eliminating gas as a fuel. But be realistic. If you improve the average fuel economy by 20%, then taxes must be increased 20% to create equivalent revenue to support the infrastructure. By the time the MPG on my SUV is doubled, so will the MPG on all the other "standard" cars.
So, whats the solution? Stop complaining about SUV and come up with an equivalent solution that meets the needs of the market. If I had a choice of spending an extra $5k to double my MPG or go Electric, with all the same feature I have, I would have done so in a heartbeat.
Don't waste your time trying to change the dynamics of the marketplace, satisfy them instead!
Cheers,
Spending $50 to fill my gas tank for YOU
