Gas Guzzler Tax
 

Curios how many of you have ever paid gas guzzler tax? If so when was the last time you had to and how much?
Last time I paid it was in 2006 on a GTO when I understood the tax to be aimed more at imports than domestics with poor fuel mileage.

Almost all of us buying V8 Camaros are these days.

I've paid from 1,300 to 2,300 on my last 4 cars.

I've never paid but I tend to buy used. The cars or trucks that I bought new was either except and/or did not qualify. Gas guzzler tax has nothing to do with import vs domestic from what I've ever seen.

$0 on my 2006 GTO because it had 3 pedals.
$1300 on '13 ZL1 3 pedals
$1300 on '17 ZL1 3 pedals

I've never owned a new car so I can say that I've never paid the gas guzzler tax. However, if I did buy new, I'd still say it's a rip off. Just another way for the tree huggers to feel good about themselves.

the Gas Guzzler Tax has nothing to do with being an Import

The U.S government introduced the Gas Guzzler Tax as a part of the Energy Tax Act. The tax was introduced to tax the purchase of inefficient vehicles at the same time that Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were introduced. The Gas Guzzler Tax applies only to vehicles classified as cars, as opposed to light trucks. Since 1991, cars with a combined fuel economy rating under 22.5 mpg‑US (10.5 L/100 km; 27.0 mpg‑imp) have been subject to the tax. Light trucks, which includes virtually all sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans, are not subject to the tax.

I think I finally convinced him of that in the other thread.

As for this topic, I've paid on a GG tax on the ZL1.

So guess I was stating an incorrect fact about paying the tax due to my GTO being imported. My excuses lol-

I discussed the tax with the dealer and was told it was due to it being imported. I had purchased new vehicles with worse mileage before this and never paid the tax so for sure wanted to know why. Cars included a 1993 1/2 Formula, and '98 Trans Am, also a couple of SUV's. I had remembered foreign car companies being in the news and upset about the changes that seemed to target them. So I took the dealers word because they never make something up to just sell a car I'm certain. Suppose should have done more research. Up until now had never given it another thought unless complaining about taxes. If my information is correct now vehicles like SUV's, trucks, 4x4's, and others where excluded from the tax. I think it had been almost a decade since anything but the Viper owners had paid the tax when I purchased the Goat. The big 3 where also more adept to avoiding the tax for consumers, such as standard transmission vehicles having a higher mpg rating and avoiding it. Kind of like my 2012 2LS having 2:92 gears so Camaro could claim 30+mpg to compete with the Mustang. I had heard.
I still haven't done much research on any of this and probably won't so feel free to correct me as this post is already about 10 minutes of my life I won't get back.

So in short I blame misinformation and fake news. Lol

The point being I was wrong about why I paid a tax in my passing statement to all those who are sticklers for what occurred when I bought my GTO in 2006 sorry for posting incorrect information. Guess in the instance no redaction allowed.

Suppose my take away is in life much like when I owned or managed bars believe 1/2 of what you see and none of what you hear, and get the facts from reputable sources!

This was probably a mis-representation or inaccurate statement by the dealer. There was probably as decent cost increase from the previous model year due to import duties. It would not have been on the car itself but on the steel used in manufacturing it. Similar to the tariffs that have recently been added to various products being imported. They come and go based on political climate and trade differences.

For those earlier F Bodies, the EPA combined (which isn't actually the combined on the window sticker itself cause.. uhmm.. who knows) was just above the GG cutoff back then. Those tall top gears were used for a reason :)

I think the mpg requirement was slowly increased until a certain year. Perhaps that's why my other cars fell under the criteria. IDK but when validating your point think I saw something to that affect. Not certain about years and requirements but perhaps had something to do with it. Did also come across that about EPA mpg being determined independently of the manufacturer claims like you said. Help me out if I got any of this wrong as I've had my fill of looking up the GG tax Lol.

Yeah I think it was 1991 for the last adjustment to the MPG so your cars would have qualified. I was looking at new Trans Ams in the ~mid 90s and was surprised that they didn't get hit with it. I don't recall what they were calculated at but it must have been higher than 22.5 with the modified EPA calculation. That's all 6 speeds though, I have no idea about the automatic cars and what they got for fuel eco. GM may have gone to a really tall rear gear to get it to pass or something - at that price point a GG tax would have been an issue for buyers IMO.

My Zl1 was $2600 and the Sedan was $1300, and paid sales tax on top of each. Almost like double taxation... LOL, not really but seems like it.