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United States News Title: Taxing (and Antiquing) Them Off the Road For planned obsolescence to work, youve got to keep the conveyor belt rolling. And most of all, prevent anyone from getting off. It is a problem if people cling to their old cars instead of regularly trading them in ideally, to be crushed for new ones hopefully, heavily financed. But how to get rid of the old cars when people decline to get rid of them voluntarily? Democratic politicians in Oregon have just the thing. It is House Bill 2877 and if it becomes law it will impose heavy taxes on cars 20 years old or more to the tune of $1,000 payable every five years, in perpetuity unless the owner obtains Antique Vehicle registration and tags for the vehicle. The Antique tags, of course, cost extra and once registered as an Antique, the vehicle may no longer be legally driven regularly but only occasionally, to parades and shows and so on. Its one step away from drilling holes in the engine block and turning the car into a static display. The legislation would make older cars either functionally useless or usuriously expensive to drive . . . if you insist on clinging. A grand every five years. So, two every ten. Four every twenty. In exchange for the privilege of being allowed to keep your car. And thats in addition to all the other assorted fees, such as annual registration dunning-for-nothing (unless you consider a little government-issued sticker getting something in return for your money) and the mandatory safety and emissions rigmarole. Old car collectors might be able to afford it though thats a pretty twisted standard, when you think about it: Punishment applied based on the victims ability to absorb the blow. Dont kick the old lady; sucker punch the young guy instead! He can take it. This is, of course, the operating principle behind what is called progressive taxation, of which this is a sub-species. And it is punishment that were dealing with here. The Bill reeks of how dare you own an old car. Its language is victim-blaming, describing the punitive taxes as impact fees, as if the state were merely recouping money for costs imposed. But what is this impact, exactly? It is not specified in the Bill itself (PDF here, if youd like to read the thing) but whenever that term is used in the context of cars you should always assume they mean environmental impact. The magic words. Older cars are not as clean as new ones which is true, as far as it goes. But it doesnt go very far. New cars are slightly cleaner than circa 1990s-era cars. Slightly meaning a percentage or two; maybe three thats it. Really. People dont grok this, in part because it is never explained to them. You have to go way back to the era before three-way catalytic converters and computer-controlled fuel injection (which would be early 1980s and older) to find cars that produce significantly higher Bad for Gaia exhaust byproducts and now you are dealing with cars more than 35 years old and the number of those still in use as daily drivers is so small fewer than 3 percent of the cars registered as to render whatever their exhaust emissions may be irrelevant as a public health issue. However many pre-early 80s cars may be running around in Oregon (or any other state) they are emitting a fraction of the Bad for Gaia materials that the governments vast fleets of exempt-from-any-emissions-controls-whatsoever MRAPS and Humvees and assorted Peasant Control Units in inventory spew every single day. This is never explained, either. Instead, the impression is left that any car not brand-new or nearly new is a kind of mobile Chernobyl and its owner a vile misanthrope who probably also pours used motor oil down the storm drain. And of course, such people must be dealt with. Note that its not even material whether the old car is actually running. Many cars more than 20 years old are not. They are in the process of being restored or just being stored for now. In which case, of course, such a car is as much a zero emissions car as a new (and Green Approved) electric car. Still, its owner must either pay the impact fees or accept what amounts to vehicular disfranchisement, his car prohibited from ever again being more than an occasional-use-only toy. Which brings us to the real heart of this particular darkness. It is an elitist measure ironic, given the peasant-hugging pretensions of the Democrats pushing it. If hes not a collector, the owner of a car 20-years-old or older is probably someone just trying to live inexpensively. He probably owns his car. He bought it for cash, perhaps. Hes not in debt. His insurance costs are lower. He pays less in personal property taxes which are based upon the retail value of the car. This is good for him but bad for the state, which is not getting its pound of flesh out of him. And the beasts belly growls. The guy who drives a 20-year-old or older car probably also does most if not all of his own repair work, too. Those cars are simpler and they lack a lot of the creepy Big Brother Tech that new cars have. This is freeing which is another reason why the New Car Reluctant are being targeted and not just in Oregon, either. Whether this bill sinks or swims, its not the last and its not an isolated canker sore. We just cant tolerate people driving around in cars they can fix themselves, that are paid-for and which arent generating enough revenue for the government. They wont put it in such honest language, of course. They never do. Subscribe to *Cars and Automotive* Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Deckard (#0)
People in that state should round up those asshats, and turn them into windchimes ! Si vis pacem, para bellum Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."Theodore Roosevelt-1907. I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." -- General Douglas MacArthur
I doan no nutt-in bout no Oregon,but just wait until the try that crap in Ca and start telling the low-riders they can't drive their 40's and 50's Chebbies any more. Most of those guys are Americans of His or Her Panic blood,and some are black. ALL of them have money or they wouldn't have low-riders,and there is nothing not even the tiniest bit casual about their love for their low-riders. How long do you think that crap will float when blacks and His-Panics start throwing racial discrimination lawsuits against the cities and states,claiming,and rightly so,that it is a part of their heritage. BOYCOTT PAYPAL AND CLOSE YOUR PP ACCOUNTS NOW! ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO,TOO! ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION! Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012) American Indians had open borders. Look at how well that worked out for them.
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