Anything to sell an SUV

[unixronin]

Heard any Chevy commercials lately?  "Nine out of ten cars Chevrolet sells today get an EPA highway rating of 30 miles per gallon or better."

Clever wording.  They're not talking about nine out of ten car models that they make, mind you.  They're talking about the ones that are actually selling.  Which is to say, the smaller, fuel-efficient ones.  Those big heavy gas-guzzling SUVs just aren't moving off the lot.

What's a poor automaker to do?  Why, subsidize SUV buyers' fuel costs, of course.  Buyers of "certain 2006 and 2007 SUVs and mid-size cars" in California and Florida, under a new plan, will have their gas costs capped by GM at $1.99 per gallon by the simple expedient of GM giving them a credit every month on a special GM credit card for the difference between what they actually spent on gas and the cost of that same gas at $1.99 a gallon.  The condition is that buyers must sign up for OnStar service.

Vehicles that qualify for the deal include the 2006 and 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL and the Hummer H2 and H3.

Welcome to America, where now, the auto companies will PAY YOU to drive a gas-guzzler.

Comments

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I am not sure that is really needed. The tax breaks for buying a SUV or truck are good enough that the gas price cap doesn't really help that much. (If you read between the lines, that means that your tax dollars are subsidizing SUV and truck sales.)

To be fair, I should point out that there are tax breaks for hybrids too, but they are about 20% of what a small business gets on a SUV.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty wide stretch to state that because Bob is having less money stolen by Steve, Jim (who is also being stolen from by Steve) is somehow subsidizing Bob.

-Ogre

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I am not following you. What I am saying is that any American that pays federal taxes is subsidizing SUV sales through tax deductions.

That is part of the reason a flat tax is not such a good idea. With a variable tax, you can encourage behavior that is deemed in the public's interest, and discourage behavior not in the public's interest. For instance a tax break for home ownership. Properly used, it can bring prices into line with costs.

Is the government robbing us? I thought King George was cutting taxes. We do provide minuscule tax breaks for fuel efficient cars. But we are very generous about Big cars.