Just in time for tax season, assemblyman and Borat look-alike Mike Feuer has introduced a fee to help mitigate the effects of global warming.
The whimsical “climate change mitigation and adaptation fee” would either add nine cents to gas pumps or place an extra $90 on vehicle registration with “a minimum of two-thirds of [the] net fee revenues” going toward public transportation, according to Assembly Bill No. 2558.
Because many people, some even scientists, believe that cars are leading to an increased amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere. The hope of the bill is that by making driving even more expensive than it already is, people will be forced to stop doing it or start using public transportation. Thus, our planet will be saved.
We at the Daily Forty-Niner are just as concerned about climate change as anyone else.
We cried at all of the footage of polar bears crashing through ice sheets in “An Inconvenient Truth.” And we rooted for Jake Gyllenhaal in “The Day After Tomorrow.”
We don’t really believe that these lofty fees will actually change citizens’ driving behavior, though.
Maybe it’s just our cynicism, but for some reason we don’t think that the projected $400 million revenue increase for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will make the train and bus systems so appealing to Southern Californians that we’ll all just give up our cars and hop on a train.
And we definitely don’t believe that drivers will become so overwhelmed by the new fees that driving will become a rare endeavor in SoCal.
If the last few years of crazy gas prices and horrible traffic has taught us anything about Californians, it’s that almost nothing can make us give up our cars.
SoCal’s sprawling design and intricate highway system makes private transportation the ideal way of navigating the region. Those who don’t drive understand how much of an inconvenience it can be living in this area if you don’t have a car.
Besides, the set schedule and limited routes of public transportation make them an inefficient means of getting around in an area that is extremely time-conscious.
Sure, this bill may make some people feel better about themselves for supporting it. We bet that George Clooney will vote for it.
But expecting taxpayers to give up their carbon dioxide-emitting cars is unlikely. Until the people themselves decide to stop driving, no one will ever be able to make us stop loving our cars.
