BTW, I don't think we should eliminate the gas tax. The gas tax is a fair way to collect money for our road system. The more you drive, the more gas you use, the more you pay for the roads.
And if you don't want to pay the gas tax, you can get a high-mileage vehicle, or move to where you work closed to home, or cut down on trips, or use mass transit.
The gas tax is a regressive tax, but it serves a rational purpose.
I'm glad someone on FR understands that. Although I have a problem with federal funding of highways, the gas tax is a better way of funding them than putting in on the income tax.
Thomas Sowell hit a home run today with his comment on Congress discussing gasoline prices: "If there is anything worse than partisan demagoguery, it is bipartisan demagoguery."
And state lottery schemes help pay for education. Right?
The effective progressiveness or regressiveness of a use tax is irrelevant, IMO. As long as the tax is applied equally according to use, it's fair.