Right up and until the biggest supporters of state taxes demand your own government kills off sales of an innovative new competitor. “We need to talk about the fact that we are for a free-market society that allows your effort and ingenuity to determine your success, not the cold, hard hand of the government.”
#CARROT WEATHER FIND A TESLA FREE#
What’s particularly hilarious, is that this move comes just days after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie talked up the power of the free market and against government intervention in business: Besides, what does the safety of a car have to do with dealerships? Dealers try to claim that local dealers are “more committed to taking care of that area’s customers.” And yet they provide no evidence to support that - mainly because there is none.
As in nearly all of those cases, the dealers are (laughingly) trying to argue that this is a “consumer protection issue.” Again, the research linked above notes there’s basically nothing to that argument, and safety reviews of the Tesla have suggested the car is incredibly safe. In response to this, entrepreneur/investor Paul Graham put it succinctly that banning Tesla “is an index of the corruptness of state governments” in the same manner as cities banning Uber or other disruptive new services. Not only is the car better for the environment, reviewers write about the car and talk about how it may be the best car ever built. By late Tuesday afternoon, the Commission had officially approved the regulation banning Tesla from selling the car in the state. Then, Tuesday morning Tesla itself announced that it may be forced to close the doors on its showrooms in New Jersey, after dealers went to the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission to complain about Tesla daring to sell direct. On Monday of this week, Bloomberg had a long article about how dealers were freaking out about Tesla, with various challenges in Texas, Ohio, Arizona and elsewhere. In late February, New York moved forward with some anti-Tesla legislation. Things have been heating up quite a bit in the past few weeks. This has even reached insane levels, with dealerships claiming that Tesla’s website violates California DMV rules. Car dealers have flexed their political muscle to get various states to basically make it illegal to buy Teslas.
A few years ago, we wrote about dealerships starting to complain about Tesla and it’s plan to sell direct via the web, but with company-owned “showrooms.” Tesla reasonably argued that these are not dealerships, and such laws didn’t apply. That fight has been getting more notice lately, in large part because of Tesla, the innovative electric car company that has wowed nearly everyone who’s driven one. They serve no purpose other than to enrich local car dealership owners and state tax coffers at the expense of everyone else - especially the public.Īnd yet, because these laws benefit both the politicians in charge and local dealerships, which tend to have strong lobbying power, they stay in place.
There is basically no valid reason for such laws. Additionally, available evidence and theory suggests that as a result of these laws, distribution costs and retail prices are higher than they otherwise would be and this is particularly true for Detroit’s Big Three car manufacturers–which is likely another factor contributing to their losses in market share vis-a-vis other manufacturers. Given these laws, manufacturers do have a financial interest in closing down new car dealerships, and in choosing which ones wil close. This has resulted in a set of state laws that almost guarantee dealership profitability and survival–albeit at the expense of manufacturer profits. As a result, car dealerships, and especially local or state car dealership associations, have been able to exert influence over local legislatures. The bulk of these taxes (89 percent) are generated by new car dealerships, those with whom manufacturers deal directly. States earn about 20 percent of all state sales taxes from auto dealers, and auto dealerships can easily account for 7-8 percent of all retail employment…. It has also shown how these laws are open to significant corruption issues, since dealers generate tremendous local tax revenue: A research paper highlighted how these state laws have been a massive boon to the owners of dealerships, but have seriously harmed automakers themselves. The main reason it was deemed that the process was so ridiculous and unpleasant was a variety of state laws that ban car makers from selling directly, and instead require a network of dealerships. Wed, Mar 12th 2014 05:03am - Mike MasnickĪ year ago, NPR’s Planet Money podcast had a show detailing one of the most horrific consumer experiences around: buying a car.
0 kommentar(er)
