[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