That was quite a rant, Wayne

Tax petrol until SUV use declines to 10% or so, and Joe American views a family car as 40 MPG minimum. Send all the extra money to clean energy dev, NOT TO THE GENERAL FUND.

That will work; as far as I can tell, nothing else will.

Oh yeah .. to be on topic a bit:
I have seen conflicting opinions whether car weight is proportional to road wear. Anybody have factual data ?

Schwa's point was spot on: Why pick on hybrids, and not every car that gets over 15 MPG ? The revenue collectors have gotten used to a large mix of gas guzzlers in the vehicle mix. If people drive less, or change car choices to *anything* that is more FE than what they currently have, tax receipts will decline. America's roads have a backlog of needed repairs, which is what really have the collectors worried. They want more money NOW, not less -- reasons be ****ed.

Where are they going to get more money ? From SUV owners who tend to vote repubican, or hybrid owners, who tend not to ?

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."