Quote:
Originally Posted by California98Civic
It's quite a bit more complex than that article's argument.
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Ding ding ding! The video that sparked the article linked in the original post came up on another forum I frequent about a month ago. I went looking for more informed views on the topic and found analyses by
Scientific American and
Popular Mechanics.
Here's another informative piece on the federal gasoline tax and where those funds go, from Car and Driver last year. It's interesting to note that the federal rate has remained stagnant for 19 years, and that diesel fuel is taxed at a higher rate than gasoline. If this was simply all about revenue, one would think the tax rate would have been raised to at least keep up with inflation.
Also, remember: Volkswagen market researchers and, ultimately, executives decide which models come to America and which stay in Europe, not secret government conspirators. Does no one remember the hand-wringing over the latest Passat redesign--when those executives decided that the US would get a different car than the Passat sold in Europe, specifically because they wanted to meet a lower price point here and increase sales volume? I'm not able to find any information about where the 1.6L diesel is built, but I doubt it's in VW's Tennessee plant (currently their
only US plant)--which, again, is there to build vehicles solely for the US market. If anyone has further information, I'd love to see it.