The Automobile Subsidy
in [Drive]
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From: Stephen Sprunk on 18 Nov 2009 18:19 John David Galt wrote: > Bernd Felsche wrote: >> Goods vehicles carry goods. Stuff that is bought and sold. >> If the vehicles have to pay more to use the roads, then they will >> pass that increase on in the form of (higher) transport charges. The >> new bureaucracy that collects the fees from truck operators also >> needs to be fed. So the charges for the use of the roads will have >> to be higher than for simply maintaining the roads. >> >> It's simply a matter of accepting that the greater good is served by >> providing the roads for the use of trucks, so that everything doesn't >> get more expensive; largely due to the creation of a new >> bureaucracy. A bureaucracy that sucks wealth. > > I don't buy it. Increase truck registration fees to pay for it, and the > shippers will have enough incentive to change to rail or other modes > when it makes sense. As it stands now, too much ships by truck. More precisely, intermodal freight cannot currently compete at distances under 700mi due to trucking subsidies. If shipping by truck included the full cost, rail would be able to compete at much shorter distances, and the vast majority of ton-miles would be by rail, with only short legs at the end via truck. And, of course, railroads pay property taxes, franchise taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, etc. which go in part to funding their competitors' roads, in addition to all the car-to-truck subsidies, while highways pay no taxes at all. S -- Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking
From: Philip Nasadowski on 18 Nov 2009 23:12 In article <he1vei$qrh$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, Stephen Sprunk <stephen(a)sprunk.org> wrote: > More precisely, intermodal freight cannot currently compete at distances > under 700mi due to trucking subsidies. If shipping by truck included > the full cost, rail would be able to compete at much shorter distances, > and the vast majority of ton-miles would be by rail, with only short > legs at the end via truck. Uh huh. And what about those of us, i.e., most businesses, who want their stuff shipped in less than one month's time and arrive in one piece? And aren't ordering in dozen-container quantities?
From: gpsman on 19 Nov 2009 00:06 On Nov 18, 6:19 pm, Stephen Sprunk <step...(a)sprunk.org> wrote: > > More precisely, intermodal freight cannot currently compete at distances > under 700mi due to trucking subsidies. If shipping by truck included > the full cost, rail would be able to compete at much shorter distances, > and the vast majority of ton-miles would be by rail, with only short > legs at the end via truck. Why is it those with the most opinion are so often the most ignorant? <q>Table 8 shows total over or underpayments of highway user fees by each of the 20 vehicle classes analyzed in this study. Pickups and vans have the largest over or underpayment of any vehicle class; as a group those vehicles pay $1.6 billion more in highway user fees than their highway cost responsibility. Other vehicle classes that in the aggregate pay more than their highway cost responsibility are 2-axle single unit trucks, all truck- trailer combinations, and 5- and 6-axle twin-trailer combinations. Five-axle tractor semitrailers have the largest total underpayment of any vehicle class, followed by automobiles and 3- and 4-axle single unit trucks. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/hcas/summary/sum3.html#2000 ----- - gpsman
From: Jim Yanik on 19 Nov 2009 08:05 Philip Nasadowski <nasadowsk(a)usermale.com> wrote in news:nasadowsk- F1305C.23124718112009(a)news.optonline.net: > In article <he1vei$qrh$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, > Stephen Sprunk <stephen(a)sprunk.org> wrote: > >> More precisely, intermodal freight cannot currently compete at distances >> under 700mi due to trucking subsidies. If shipping by truck included >> the full cost, rail would be able to compete at much shorter distances, >> and the vast majority of ton-miles would be by rail, with only short >> legs at the end via truck. > > Uh huh. > > And what about those of us, i.e., most businesses, who want their stuff > shipped in less than one month's time and arrive in one piece? And > aren't ordering in dozen-container quantities? > I think that Sprunk is a communist;he seems to want to "socialize" transportation,through gov't power. -- Jim Yanik jyanik at localnet dot com
From: Clark F Morris on 19 Nov 2009 13:28
On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:19:44 -0600, Stephen Sprunk <stephen(a)sprunk.org> wrote: >John David Galt wrote: >> Bernd Felsche wrote: >>> Goods vehicles carry goods. Stuff that is bought and sold. >>> If the vehicles have to pay more to use the roads, then they will >>> pass that increase on in the form of (higher) transport charges. The >>> new bureaucracy that collects the fees from truck operators also >>> needs to be fed. So the charges for the use of the roads will have >>> to be higher than for simply maintaining the roads. >>> >>> It's simply a matter of accepting that the greater good is served by >>> providing the roads for the use of trucks, so that everything doesn't >>> get more expensive; largely due to the creation of a new >>> bureaucracy. A bureaucracy that sucks wealth. >> >> I don't buy it. Increase truck registration fees to pay for it, and the >> shippers will have enough incentive to change to rail or other modes >> when it makes sense. As it stands now, too much ships by truck. > >More precisely, intermodal freight cannot currently compete at distances >under 700mi due to trucking subsidies. If shipping by truck included >the full cost, rail would be able to compete at much shorter distances, >and the vast majority of ton-miles would be by rail, with only short >legs at the end via truck. > >And, of course, railroads pay property taxes, franchise taxes, income >taxes, sales taxes, etc. which go in part to funding their competitors' >roads, in addition to all the car-to-truck subsidies, while highways pay >no taxes at all. It depends on the state or province in the case of Canada as to what railroad property is subject to tax and many jurisdictions have repealed taxes on right of way. Franchise taxes might apply to both modes as do income and sales taxes. > >S |