[jeffbee]

1) The meme that gas tax is regressive is an Exxon propaganda plant.

2) It is extremely simple to make a progressive gas tax. You set the tax at a high enough level to establish a consumer incentive. Say, $2 per liter. Every month, everyone gets a check for their share of the revenue, divided among the whole population. At current rates of consumption this would be $160/month/person. For anyone who burned the average amount of motor fuel, it's a wash. But for people who used less fuel than average it's profit, and motor fuel consumption is proportional to income so it is naturally progressive. If you make the refund taxable income then it is even more progressive, because the median person doesn't even pay income taxes.

With the above plan suddenly everyone wants to use less gas than the average guy.

[noahtallen]

It’s a neat idea, but is this really true?

> motor fuel consumption is proportional to income so it is naturally progressive

Counterpoints:

- Older, cheaper cars are less fuel efficient and use more gas.

- Rent is cheaper further from job centers, meaning long commutes.

- Places where rent is cheaper tend to have less investment in walkability and public transit, meaning cars are used more often.

[jeffbee]

I don’t know why you are posting these suppositions when the government measures this directly. The spread between the lowest and highest income quintiles in terms of motor fuel consumption is 300%.

“ The highest income quintile (making at least $95,000 per year) spent slightly more than $4,000 on gasoline in 2013, while the lowest income quintile (making under $18,000 per year) spent about $1,200 on gasoline. Higher-income households also have more vehicles: 2.8 per household for the highest quintile compared with 0.9 per household for the lowest quintile.”

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=20772