I ran into this in the real world the other day. Every year, the university I work at has raised parking pass prices (while slashing parking, but that's another problem). We've gone from $80 to $260 in the last 5 years. I recently bought a 2016 Hyundai Sonata hybrid with 180,000 miles. I found out that the university offers a 15% discount to parking passes for "low emission vehicles", presumably as some sort of incentive to fight climate change or something. They referenced a list of low emission vehicles that qualify, created by a third party called LEED:
I made the mistake of scrolling through this list. On the list: 2022 M850i xDrive Coupe 4.4L V8. A vehicle of pure excess, entirely unnecessary, getting 20mpg while transporting like two people. Not on the list: my 1988 Ford Bronco with a 2.9L V6 that can haul cargo, move people and dead animals, drive off-road and gets ~20 mpg.
So in the eyes of the university and LEEDS list people, it would be better for me to ditch my perfectly functional 1988 vehicle and instead purchase a brand new 2022 V8 sports coupe. This is literally just a poor person tax.
https://greenercars.org/news/list-leed-qualified-cars
I made the mistake of scrolling through this list. On the list: 2022 M850i xDrive Coupe 4.4L V8. A vehicle of pure excess, entirely unnecessary, getting 20mpg while transporting like two people. Not on the list: my 1988 Ford Bronco with a 2.9L V6 that can haul cargo, move people and dead animals, drive off-road and gets ~20 mpg.
So in the eyes of the university and LEEDS list people, it would be better for me to ditch my perfectly functional 1988 vehicle and instead purchase a brand new 2022 V8 sports coupe. This is literally just a poor person tax.