Unbelievable - Fined for Running Soybean Oil

[JFaughn]

Heres my . 02 worth .
. 01 - the only bio-diesel I use is processed [ transesterfication , using methanol alcohol & lye , it has very dangerous fumes , will eat away at copper , galvanized metal , and even stainless steel , a commercial plant some friends worked on had to go back and rebuild it ] I am one that understands that the unprocessed WVO is not my way to go .
So it is a worry about who's doing what in there garage , but that is no reason to only let the oil companies do anything , witch leads into ----
. 02 - If we leave it to the large corporate interests & government =[ bought & paid for by the corporates ] then nothing will happen , we should have gone in the direction of alternatives 50 yrs ago , and did not because of the large centralized corporate / government .
Innovation has never come around by them , only individuals .
I would give a grace period to allow , what should have been developed by now [ Rudolf Diesel , invented the diesel eng. so that farmers could make
there own fuel ] .
We are so far away from the constitution that its like a house eaten up by termites , tear down & build again , thats what the writers intended , new every 20 yrs .
I think we lucked out [ by default of the powers that be ] they did not eliminate or change it , so we had a good outline to go by & history should us what went wrong , corruption because of centralization .

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Retorical questions to get you to think a little. My answers to these questions have made me come to the conclusion that this country is done. It hasn't been a free country in a long time and if you think it is, you are sadly mistaken. I have and do spend a lot of time gathering info for my escape. I doubt I'll be here in 20 or 30 years. Fact is, people in this country don't want the responsiblity of being free. This issue is just one more example of how we have allowed the Imperial Federal Government to get completely out of control.

I couldn't agree more - and have come to feel that my old age is a blessing rather than a curse - I'd hate to be around to see the final toppling of what was once a great nation based upon the rights of individuals, rather than the power of government and special interest groups.



Our basic flaw has been the tendency of Conservatives to "live and let live", to also give others the freedom to live, develop and advance in ways that best suit THEIR purposes, That tendency has been countered and corrupted by Liberals - whose basic tendency is to stick their noses into and CONTROL everything according to what THEY think is "best for humanity and the world" - which often tramples upon and destroys individual rights and freedoms.



We Conservative have been TOO lax in allowing the Liberals to gain control of schools, where they brainwash our children, and in government, where they pass laws that steadily bind us from free men into slaves of government and a society of mindless drones.



As a society and nation, we're already dead - and most don't even know it!

 

[TRLRTRSH]

Unbelievable

Amen to what Gary said. 99% of Americans these days are nothing but



Sheep #ad




#ad


Any time someone devises a way to save money, bet your butt the government's going to find a way to tax it

 

[JLehman]

I'm just thinkin as far as taxes on wvo, they have already been paid by the people who bought it to start with in sales tax if nothing else. Use too many sheets to wipe ur *** and there's gonna ba a tax. . . . enough is enough

 

[JasonCzerak]

Road tax is nothing but a hidden "toll"

 

[RolandJ]

I say do what you want and run what fuel you want... All these taxes and fee you pay are just to greasw sumones pocket . so F them #@$%!... . Ill run any damn fuel i want

 

[HOBrian]

so F them #@$%!... . Ill run any damn fuel i want

I couldn't have said it better myself. :-laf:-laf



Joe, update the sig with the new rims

 

[RobertP]

ok so it's wrong to make and use your own soybean oli? with out selling it, but for personal use only?



so i guess when i work on my truck i should be taxed for fixing it myself... ..... what a joke, the governments needs to get a grip on real life here, and put them selves in the man's shoes who only makes 50k a year, and then tell me how easy it is for them to be mandated by our "free" nation.

 

[ThompsonS]

If only the feds went after the illegal mexicans with the same effort... .....

SO some of us that run regular diesel should slap on a few bumper stickers and then sue the crap out of the feds when they try to arrest us.

 

[AKaiser]

I don't expect much, but I do expect my fellow citizens to pay their fair share of taxes, and that includes fuel taxes. We could argue until the cows come home as to whether the SVO was adequately taxed at the point of sale when it was sold to the restaurant. That tax was only a sales tax of (Indiana) 6% and not all states have a sales tax. Some that do may not even apply it to it as it may be considered an unprepared food. We could argue day and night whether the government is overtaxing us, and whether the tax we pay now is or should be more than sufficient to cover road maintenance. As I see it that is not the point.



The point is, the law in this case required certain provisions to be followed, which the individual failed to follow. Said individual was penalized for breaking a law that the government duly elected by the citizens of North Carolina enacted on behalf of the same citizens.



If we fail to abide in the laws that our representatives enact on our behalf, we make a mockery of our system of government. If you don't like the law, call your legislators, start a petition, write the newspaper editor, and failing that, elect someone else next time. Pay more attention to what's going on in your State and Federal legislative bodies.



The fact that we're finding out about this after the bill is passed into law should be an indicator that the problem is as much with us, as it is with the people we elect to make the laws.

 

[scootergmc]

I have the bumper sticker:



"This vehicle runs on untaxed fuel. "



I wonder if any attention would be garnered...

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

We could argue day and night whether the government is overtaxing us, and whether the tax we pay now is or should be more than sufficient to cover road maintenance. As I see it that is not the point.



The point is, the law in this case required certain provisions to be followed, which the individual failed to follow.

I suspect the above is not entirely accurate or realistic...



While I have to agree with most of the basic principle, what most in this thread are objecting to is yet ANOTHER example of government intrusion into the daily lives of individual citizens. The one comment above about illegal aliens pretty well demonstrates that - here we have literally SCORES of daily examples of failure of government to provide adequate protection and control of many MAJOR issues destroying our country - and yet a guy gets shafted for a few quarts of homebrew fuel in his tank?



Why wasn't the officer out chasing illegal aliens - or suspected terrorists - or better yet, the unscrupulous gouging oil companies and their station operators and fuel distributors...



Yeah, we all know why - it's because it's easier to go after the small time family man, than the terrorist who might shoot back - or the oil exec that is paying off government officials for his "right" to shaft the general public.



No one would seriously object to equitable application of reasonable laws - it's the INequitable application - or outright IGNORING of them for the privileged classes that keeps threads like this boiling...



And as grand and patriotic as it sounds, there is NO relief available thru the voting booth - one inept or crooked politician is pretty much like the next!

 

[Batphreak]

... and yet a guy gets shafted for a few quarts of homebrew fuel in his tank?

From what I understand the guy was running straight veggie oil, waste I'm sure. That isn't homebrewed Bio-D. I think most of this was already stated in this thread, but. The federal excise tax actually has a clause exempting individuals for making and using less than 400 gallons per quarter of blended fuel. Hombrew Bio, dse, and if this guy had mixed regular diesel into his oil fall into this blended fuel category. That is only the federal excise (fuel) tax. Most states don't have such an exemption and any fuel on the road should have the state excise taxes paid. I have heard of a number of states cracking down on people not paying excise taxes for hombrewed and other fuels, but as far as I know no state in the union has a provision in place for indiviuals to pay the excise taxes, only distributors.

 

[AKaiser]

In Indiana, an "alternative fuel vehicle" defined as



"any liquefied petroleum gas,

compressed natural gas product, or a combination of

liquefied petroleum gas and a compressed natural

gas product used in an internal combustion engine

(includes butane, propane, or compressed natural

gas). "



pays an annual special fee ILO the normal "per gallon" state fuel tax. A truck such as what we run pays $100/year. Seems like that would be an equitable solution.

 

[MMiller]

One guy that spends his free time aquiring soybean oil, making his own fuel, probably drives a car that gets 30-40 mpg, and probably doesn't drive far(ie not much road tax per week) gets nailed... ... ..... Boy, sounds like a terrible crime against humanity. For crying out loud guys, this fellow is not getting rich "making" his own fuel, and by not paying road tax. I suppose we better start charging farmers road tax to drive their tractors from the field to the house. They only feed most of the world. Heck, this guy is not relying on fossil fuels, and is trying to be better for the environment, better fine him.







Michael

 

[MMiller]

Now, nowhere did I say it was OK for him to run red fuel. Ok, I'm assuming here that he made his own fuel, and is burning it in his car. He did not go out and buy cheaper fuel to miss the road tax. I'm also assuming that he does not use a bunch of fuel, with the fact that he is making it himself.



Do I run red fuel in my truck? No. Do I have access to red fuel for my truck? Yes. If somebody is making thier own fuel, to slow their dependance on foreign oil, great, give them a break.



I'm not in charge of drawing lines for goverment laws. *I* will go ahead and say this is absurd. This just shows me once again, how they are dinging the small guy for everything they can, but a large company gets tax breaks, and can 'bend' the rules.



Michael

 

[MMiller]

Just because I'm typing, does not mean there is always logic.



I am assuming he is not buying this fuel he is using from a gas station. I am assuming he is making it, in his free time. Collecting it, bringing it home, doing whatever he has to do, to make it power his car, storing it, and dispensing it. He is making his own fuel, not buying it from where ever. I have to buy red fuel for farm equipment. I buy clear fuel for my road truck.



I have no problem with a few guys making there own fuel, and our goverment misses out on a little tax. Our goverment makes enough off the working class, everytime a guy finds a way to get a break, then somebody gets their panties in a bunch and cry "foul".



I'm going to step out of this discussion, I should never gotten into. Dan, I can see your point, but I struggle with your decision that its such a crime against humanity. We've got a lot bigger problems then a few people(small percentage of the population) that are making their own fuel and not "paying to use the road"



Michael

 

[AKaiser]

You guys are missing my point altogether. We should do two basic things: demand good laws be passed (and bad ones be removed), and demand fair enforcement of said laws. Key words are "good" and "fair. "

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

You guys are missing my point altogether. We should do two basic things: demand good laws be passed (and bad ones be removed), and demand fair enforcement of said laws. Key words are "good" and "fair. "

NO, actually the "key word" is "demand" - demand of WHO, and with what "club" to enforce that demand?



I'm not in favor of many of the things our elected officials force upon me - and I can "demand" all the changes I want - and get laughed out of various politician's offices. Sure, we can vote for guys we THINK and HOPE will better represent our wishes - but isn't that what we did the LAST election?



And look what we got... :{

 

[foolkiller]

You guys are missing my point altogether. We should do two basic things: demand good laws be passed (and bad ones be removed), and demand fair enforcement of said laws. Key words are "good" and "fair. "

that's not just your point bro..... that is THE point.



laws/taxes that hold back ingenuity and creativity, particularly of this nature, are unAmerican.