Quote:
Originally Posted by Olympiadis
A way would have to be devised to use true incentives (not punishments) to encourage a social change like this.
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In my opinion, this sounds a lot like you are wanting to have your cake and eat it too. The fact of the matter is, people ARE being given an incentive to use gasoline over any other energy source in terms of transportation. The only thing is, we are paying it through taxes, not directly at the pump. And that disconnect is more than most Americans can compute.
If the playing field truly were level, Americans would be paying ~$8-9/gallon and several hundred dollars less per year in taxes. Granted, to continue leveling the field, you'd have to take away the $7,500 tax credit for EVs, but that just means that the MIEV, Leaf, and Volt would be slightly more expensive than their gasoline counterparts. Of course, if demand for EVs increased, the volume of sales would quickly make up for the gap left by the tax credit.