Re: “Inslee vetoes collection of WA drivers’ odometer readings” [May 16, Local News]:
This plan has been kicking around for an embarrassingly long time. The idea of making road maintenance fair for all vehicles is absurd and fraught with fraud.
The idea of balancing electric vehicles road usage with gas and diesel vehicles is an argument made by gas guzzler owners.
The reason we have electric vehicles is because of pollution and an attempt to correct our abysmal attitude to climate change. The simple answer is to just raise the gas tax another 50 cents a gallon.
Making it more distasteful to use gasoline vehicles in a way that hits people’s pocket books. Too many eight-cylinder cars and trucks are cluttering the roads as it is.
Farmers already have fuel subsidies. No one other than farmers, ranchers and contractors needs to be driving trucks and eight-cylinder vehicles to the store.
Only after balance is attained with vehicles that are environmentally friendly can we then pay attention to a new way of deciding road taxes.
If dinosaurs are tenaciously holding on to their six- and eight-cylinder vehicles, they need to be paying dearly for that privilege.
John Thoe, Seattle
