It’s an interesting distinction you bring up. What is our goal? Do we want to ameliorate the plight of the poor with a fuel tax or RUCs? If that was the goal wouldn’t a tax based on the age or price of the vehicle be more effective?

Personally, I was heavy vehicles and gas guzzling vehicle to be charge more because they:

1. put more wear of the roads
2. requie us to import more fossil fuels

It’s mildly annoying to have to remember to go buy them and the slightly unnerving when you realise you’ve gone over. I’ve never got pulled up on being over and I was unwhittingly driving around for ~3 months that way.

In rural towns I’d say enforcement is passive in that they mainly rely on vehicle sales and other events to trigger re-ups. It is weird how many diesels have broken ODOs compared to petrol cars. 🤔

Weekend trips would contribute to the velocity of money in the economy. It’s a bit hidden in your message. Are you saying we should:

• Tax the things that are bad for the economy
• Incentivise the things that are good for the economy

Are you also saying that this change would:

• Disconnect incentives from fuel economy / vehicle efficiency
• Unfairly punish people that made choices under the previous rules
• Remove a tax from “something bad” for our economy (importing petrol)
• Add a tax for “something good” for the economy (travel/shipping/deliveries)

I don’t want to put words in your mouth. Am I reading too much into your comment? 🙂

I admire your exceptional commitment to such a controversial bar.