OT: Cars, fuel economy, and such

[fuzzalow]

Dunno, haven't given it much thought.

As bad as vehicle emissions might be, the CAFE is probably adequate for the relatively small proportion of its global carbon footprint. And as noted, gasoline tax is already implemented and accepted so that carbon emissions loop is already tax-revenued. IMO rolling back CAFE means nothing other than a gift on corporate taxes for auto makers because their investment into meeting the higher CAFE standard is already a sunk cost.

Carbon tax/treaty is appropriate and much more arduous to implement on an industrial or country scale. The big dirty happens here. Perhaps it better to tax at the point of origin, more akin to a VAT with a higher tax for the how much dirtier the fuel is carbon-wise. Which puts the screws to the coal industry but that IMO is an unavoidable casualty. Frankly, the coal industry shouldn't be allowed to extract product that is taxed the same as other non-renewable energies. If that is the case than coal is given a free ride on the additional carbon dirtiness of the fuel above what other forms of non-renewable energy, if it is taxed at all other than as corporate profit at the end of the chain. I know nothing about the specifics of tax policy on energy extraction so I could be way off base on what I just wrote.