Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyclops
Compare Europe and Canada with cost of gasoline and see who is driving vehicles that are gas guzzlers.
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Wait - without even commenting on the substance of the question (whether gas cost increase influences driving behaviour), do you actually think this would be a fair comparison that would tell you anything meaningful whatsoever? Seriously?
It seems to me, by the way, that it's common sense that some level of cost increase will influence behaviour. However, all evidence provided in this thread has shown that gasoline surtaxes, in the way they've been implemented in the past in similar circumstances, haven't had any substantial effect. So I'd probably agree that if you suddenly bumped the cost of gas up by 300%, you'd see a change of behaviour, but it doesn't seem to be manifesting itself in the case of gas taxes.
You can admit that cost changes influence behaviour of consumers as a general proposition (in fact you should) without admitting that these taxes are likely to cause a change in driving habits here. Those two realities are completely consistent with one another.