How You Use It Is How We Tax It

Apparently, you have to be careful if you decide to use alternative fuels -- you could find yourself fined, just like Bob Teixeira was when he converted his Mercedes to run on vegetable oil rather than diesel fuel. He was fined for not paying fuel taxes on the vegetable oil he used. Apparently, the states tax not the product, but what the product is used for (we saw this same nonsense going on in Iowa with pumpkins). If you plan to cook with your vegetable oil, it's good, and you don't get taxed. If you use it for fuel, you are supposed to send the state government your fuel tax (though did anybody else know you were supposed to do that? Ignorance of the law is no excuse, I know, but still, shouldn't the laws generally be known?). I suppose if I bought some oil and wanted to use it to oil my body up for wrestling, I would have to pay the regular sales tax by this logic.

I have said before that it is probably a bad idea to use food for fuel, but I would also say that it's none of the government's business if I do so. One can make the argument that we need these taxes to build and maintain our roads (oh, if only fuel taxes were only used for roads and nothing else!) -- so be it. It seems to me, then, that the proper response is not to fine the person the first time, but to give the person a warning citation, letting the person know he is supposed to be paying the fuel tax. If paying the fuel tax is indeed what they are after here.