In reference to Alan's post, I am in favor of keeping the tax rate at 50 cents per gallon. I agree with him when he said that an expensive tax is "partly the point," but not perhaps for the reason he meant.

I think that some people have the idea that the VGT is some form of punishment for doing something we know we shouldn't do (or should at least do less) but we do anyway. But in my mind it has a more important goal than just self-flagellation. I think the point is to use economics to influence our choices in a direction which more closely matches the realities of our fuel usage.

In a previous post I said that having to pay for the combined 700 gallons of fuel that my wife and I used when flying to Thailand might discourage such action in the future. I meant that seriously, despite the smiley. My point there wasn't that we should have to pay because We Were Bad; it was that if we knew it was going to cost us an additional $350, it might have affected our decision-making about how to take a vacation.

Similarly, when Alan said that he "can't avoid driving 10-15,000 miles a year," I suspect that that was only partly the case. I can think of very few reasons why someone truly couldn't avoid that. I'm guessing that it's Alan's choices (regarding job, SO, family, whatever) which make that driving necessary. But the point is that those really are choices. If the gas tax is expensive for him, that's good; not because he deserves punishment, but because it causes his personal economics to reflect the true cost of his decisions.

Now I hope I haven't come off sounding holier-than-thou, because my point is precisely that I don't think the VGT should be a holier-than-thou tax. I'm sure Alan has some good reasons for driving as much as he does, and I'm certainly in no position to say he shouldn't. I just think that the VGT introduces a financial aspect into our choices which helps move us in the direction we want to go. Lower the tax rate and that effect is lessened.

With all that said, I should address Alan's second point, which was that a lower tax rate might encourage more people to join. He may well be right. I would be interested in finding out if that is true, because I would very much like to see the membership expand. I'm not sure there's a good way to find out without experimenting with different rates. On the other hand, we probably all know some people whom we've told about the VGT but who haven't joined. It would be interesting to ask them whether they would have joined if the rate were lower (e.g. 25, 10, even 5 cents per gallon).

If someone convinced me that lowering the rate to 25 cents per gallon really would draw in more people, then I wouldn't feel strongly about it one way or the other, despite what I said above.