Hybrids

[Lyle]

"It's not fair for people like me who have to commute, and we don't have any
choice but take the freeways," says Just. "We shouldn't have to be taxed." 

It's amazing the choices people insist they don't have any choice about.

Of course, compared to an overweight 18-wheeler, your average hybrid auto
causes barely any wear and tear on the roads at all.  So I would hope that
this proposal would fairly reflect both the road wear and congestion-causing
characteristics of the different types of vehicles.

I see this proposal as a stalking horse for the oil and trucking industries.
The states anticipate shrinking gas tax revenues, so the easiest and most
obvious thing is to raise the gas tax.  But that would encourage even more
people to drive more fuel-efficient vehicles, and so on.