Why should we punish someone that bought a car before EV's were commonly available? That's punishing people after the fact. Which is morally wrong.
The fundamental idea is the state doesn't actually want the money. It wants manufactures to stop making cars that emit CO2. If someone already has a car like that perhaps the state can buy it back.
I thought the fundamental idea was to reduce carbon emissions. If the state doesn’t want the money, it can reduce plenty other taxes or debt. Or provide more services.
All solutions other than punishing fossil fuel use seem like “I want to feel like I did something, but not actually make any sacrifice” solutions so the public doesn’t revolt. See also plastic recycling.
The standard response here is “well what about poor people?”
And the standard response to that is “if a different fundamental problem is some people are too poor, then give them cash”
Less obfuscation and more transparency is always better.
When someone buys a car that uses gasoline or diesel they just commuted to dumping 50 to 100 tons of CO2 into the air.
Putting an excise tax on those cars tilts the decision to buy gas vs electric strongly away from gas. Which is what you want. The other thing is it sends a very strong signal to manufacturers that they need to stop producing them. Remember the cost of carbon taxes isn't something they pay. The consumer most of whom suck at accounting are the ones.
And punishing people that bought a gas car ten years ago is pointless and immoral. Because they already bought it. And they did so in good faith.
Just put a vehicle registration fee equivalent to the lifetime carbon tax on new ICE cars sold after a given deadline. After X years, start charging the carbon tax on registration fees for older cars as well if a car’s ownership is transferred. Use revenue from those fees for buybacks.
