Hijexx writes:

Summary: A retired chemist and food plant manager converted his car to run on a vegetable oil / diesel blend. He has used it this way for the last four years.

He gets a visit one morning at his home from agents of the Illinois Department of Revenue. He is being investigated for criminal activity.

Turns out, Illinois wants him to pay retroactive fuel taxes on the vegetable oil. They also want him to apply for a license to become a special fuel supplier as well as a special fuel receiver. He also has to pay a $2500 bond as insurance that his "business" will pay the taxes in the future.

The State also sent him a cease and desist letter, threatening him with felony charges if he continued to operate his vehicle without giving the State their cut and dancing their dance.

Thankfully, there is a State Senator taking up his cause, but this is just patently wrong on its face. Why send agents out to someone's house who is trying to do the right thing? Why use that Gestapo tactic? I hate seeing people being bullied like that.

Worth a read, article has some good points.

On first read, this seems too stupid to believe. This man is doing something that should be commended. Garage level innovation in alternative fuel sources is something that should be encouraged. Someone needs to look at the big picture here, and see that a stop is put to the harassment he and anyone else in his situation is receiving. This is a story that should be tracked.

You damn Revenue Agent kids! Get off my lawn!

Hijexx writes:

Summary: A retired chemist and food plant manager converted his car to run on a vegetable oil / diesel blend. He has used it this way for the last four years.

He gets a visit one morning at his home from agents of the Illinois Department of Revenue. He is being investigated for criminal activity.

Turns out, Illinois wants him to pay retroactive fuel taxes on the vegetable oil. They also want him to apply for a license to become a special fuel supplier as well as a special fuel receiver. He also has to pay a $2500 bond as insurance that his "business" will pay the taxes in the future.

The State also sent him a cease and desist letter, threatening him with felony charges if he continued to operate his vehicle without giving the State their cut and dancing their dance.

Thankfully, there is a State Senator taking up his cause, but this is just patently wrong on its face. Why send agents out to someone's house who is trying to do the right thing? Why use that Gestapo tactic? I hate seeing people being bullied like that.

Worth a read, article has some good points.

On first read, this seems too stupid to believe. This man is doing something that should be commended. Garage level innovation in alternative fuel sources is something that should be encouraged. Someone needs to look at the big picture here, and see that a stop is put to the harassment he and anyone else in his situation is receiving. This is a story that should be tracked.

Hijexx wrote:
Summary: A retired chemist and food plant manager converted his car to run on a vegetable oil / diesel blend. He has used it this way for the last four years.

He gets a visit one morning at his home from agents of the Illinois Department of Revenue. He is being investigated for criminal activity.

Turns out, Illinois wants him to pay retroactive fuel taxes on the vegetable oil. They also want him to apply for a license to become a special fuel supplier as well as a special fuel receiver. He also has to pay a $2500 bond as insurance that his "business" will pay the taxes in the future.

The State also sent him a cease and desist letter, threatening him with felony charges if he continued to operate his vehicle without giving the State their cut and dancing their dance.

Thankfully, there is a State Senator taking up his cause, but this is just patently wrong on its face. Why send agents out to someone's house who is trying to do the right thing? Why use that Gestapo tactic? I hate seeing people being bullied like that.

Worth a read, article has some good points.

This is a real issue. Those taxes fund roads and the state DOTs. I would expect as fuel technologies advance, we'll see tax laws adapt. It would be great if Congress got in front of this like they did with e-commerce and put in a moratorium for a good bit of time. In fact, I'd go so far as to wish for some of the existing gasoline tax be diverted into alternative fuel R&D budgets. You could probably double the current funding with about 1% of the current tax being diverted. I'm just guessing tho.

flynn23 wrote:

This is a real issue. Those taxes fund roads and the state DOTs. I would expect as fuel technologies advance, we'll see tax laws adapt. It would be great if Congress got in front of this like they did with e-commerce and put in a moratorium for a good bit of time. In fact, I'd go so far as to wish for some of the existing gasoline tax be diverted into alternative fuel R&D budgets. You could probably double the current funding with about 1% of the current tax being diverted. I'm just guessing tho.

I see a future where the roads are run by the private sector and billed to the consumers directly. As that occurs, fuel taxes will become less relevant to covering road costs. There will still be rural roads that local municipalities have to deal with, places where a private company won't go (think USPS vs. UPS.) So there will probably always be a fuel tax or subsidy of some sort to cover those cases.

I'm not a proponent of road privatization, I just see it in the cards. Look at what's happening with Cintra-Zachary and the TTC. I see that as the blueprint for things to come.

Hijexx wrote:

flynn23 wrote:

This is a real issue. Those taxes fund roads and the state DOTs. I would expect as fuel technologies advance, we'll see tax laws adapt. It would be great if Congress got in front of this like they did with e-commerce and put in a moratorium for a good bit of time. In fact, I'd go so far as to wish for some of the existing gasoline tax be diverted into alternative fuel R&D budgets. You could probably double the current funding with about 1% of the current tax being diverted. I'm just guessing tho.

I see a future where the roads are run by the private sector and billed to the consumers directly. As that occurs, fuel taxes will become less relevant to covering road costs. There will still be rural roads that local municipalities have to deal with, places where a private company won't go (think USPS vs. UPS.) So there will probably always be a fuel tax or subsidy of some sort to cover those cases.

I'm not a proponent of road privatization, I just see it in the cards. Look at what's happening with Cintra-Zachary and the TTC. I see that as the blueprint for things to come.

I would disagree. That would open the door to competition, and if you've been paying attention for the last 10 years, competition in the marketplace, particularly when it comes to low level infrastructure services (see telecom, power, water, gas, etc) are monopoly owned and consolidating at an alarming rate. Shareholders are driving this bus, and it's headed to less competition-ville.

Another way to look at it is that the DOT at the Federal level is one of the biggest departments in government. Only dwarfed by Defense and HHS. I doubt you'll be able to dismantle that bureaucracy within our lifetimes. The fact that DHS was built the way it was, under this administration, gives you a good clue as to the viability of the private sector taking over anything of that magnitude.