Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation Inc., spoke to at an auto industry conference in Detroit, saying gas taxes were needed to encourage purchase of hybrid and energy efficient vehicles. A snippet of the article from Freep.com can be found below, but you can read the full text here.
The nation needs to put new tax on gasoline in place to encourage consumers to buy hybrid and electric vehicles, Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation Inc. said today at an automotive industry conference in Detroit.
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Jackson said that while he recognizes that fixing the economy should take precedence for now, he thinks the nation should adopt a gas tax that would increase the price of a gallon of gas 20 cents per year for five years, eventually adding about $1 to the price of gas. The reason: The automotive industry is investing billions to develop technology to reduce the nation’s dependence on oil, but cannot recoup those costs unless they charge a premium for the vehicles.
“Consumers are not going to pay for fuel efficiency if gas is cheap,” Jackson said after speaking at Automotive News World Congress.
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based AutoNation is the nation’s largest auto dealership group with 313 new vehicle franchises in 15 states.