Voting Against Proposition 1 Will Cost Drivers Money

According to the Argonne National Laboratory, idling uses 0.2-0.5 gallons/hr, depending on age and make of car. If Proposition 1 fails, count on a minimum of an extra 20,000 cars on the road per day. If you don’t want to pay an extra $40/year to keep those cars off the road, you are going to be paying anyway with higher gas bills, not to mention a lot more aggravation and engine wear and tear.

If you idle an extra 5 minutes a day during your commute, assuming 20 work days per month, you will spend an extra 20 hours per year idling, thus using an extra 4 to 10 galloss of gas a year. At today’s price for regular fuel of $3.65/gallon, that means you will be paying an extra $14.60 to $36.50 per year. Idle an extra 10 minutes a day and you pay $29.20-$73.00 per year

It looks to me like Proposition 1 is a bargain at $40/year, and that’s not counting the low income rebate which you get if you are a single parson earning less that $31K/year or a family earning less than $55K/year.

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/uploads/publication/which_is_greener.pdf

Geezernomics 101 and Proposition 1

Most seniors will be eligible for car fee rebates under Proposition 1. Dividing senior housholds into quintiles, the lowest quintile has incomes from $0 to $12,080, the second quintile incomes from $12,080 to $19,980, the middle quintile from $19,980 to $31,300, the second highest fifth from $31,300 to $55,890 and the top fifth over $55,890

You get a low income rebate if you are a single parson earning less that $31K/year or a family earning less than $55K/year. This means that 60% of single seniors and 80% of couples will be eligible for the rebate.

The data on household income is from Economic Status of the Elderly in the United States, by Virginia P. Reno and Benjamin Veghte

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