November 14, 2007
$1-Per-Gallon Gas Tax?
It would only be a start on coming up with a decent energy policy.
My wife drives a Prius. I'm still driving a 14-year-old clunker with 140,000 miles on it because I want my next car to be a plug-in (a friend told me over the weekend that all-electric vehicles now being sold in India using power generated by coal would, in a U.S. context, give off the carbon equivalent of 350 miles per gallon).
The politics of oil in the wake of 9/11 are discussed in today's Tom Friedman column in the New York Times. He renews his call for a dollar-a-gallon gas tax.
Readers know I focus mostly on health care issues, and a part of me is pleased that it has risen to the top concern of the American people as the next presidential election approaches. But the truth is that we can bumble along for a few more years yet with our failing health care delivery system.
Our failing energy policies, on the other hand, are threatening to drive us into new wars in the very near term, and totally ignore the long-term threat posed by global warming. When historians look back at the failed Bush presidency, they will surely note his energy policy -- not health care -- as his single greatest domestic failure.
Posted by gooznews at November 14, 2007 08:15 AMCome to the UK, we are already there... Tax on petrol and diesel is around 65% of the cost - we are paying over £1/litre, equivalent to pump prices of around $7.60 per US gal. The recent rises in oil prices are still working their way through to transport costs on goods and hence inflation figures, but this will probably become more significant in next six months or so.
We have a much larger use of small diesel vehicles in Europe due to the better fuel economy and lower fuel costs on the mainland. One side issue from high fuel taxes is that there is probably extensive illegal use of tax-exempt diesel from commercial or agricultural sources http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7076799.stm. There is also a problem of fuel smuggling at borders, especially the Northern Ireland/Irish Republic border. Many of the large international road hauliers working in UK are basing in Belgium or Holland and using large fuel capacity tractor units to avoid having to fill up in UK. It would be interesting to see the fallout if US states had significantly different fuel tax rates.
The problem with taxing fuel is that it hits the folks who have no alternative (eg those in rural areas) hardest. Whilst it is easy for London based politicians to push the use of public transport, in most of the rest of the country, the level of provision and integration of such services is extremely poor, unlike London which managed to retain their extensive local train, underground and bus services over the 1960s to 1990s when they were closed or removed elsewhere. For many folk, responding to such changes in fuel costs would most effectively be dealt with by moving home to be closer to work/school/shops, or by changing workplace/school, neither of which options are actions to be taken lightly (or cheaply).
The government has a rolling program of increasing taxes on fuel to promote fuel efficiency on the back of environmental concerns (though no doubt they can use the tax money as well). This is a program that caused widespread protests earlier in the decade when there was a backlash by transport companies and heavy agricultural users who blockaded fuel distribution centres and effectively brought the country to a halt in about three days.
Posted by: Peter at November 15, 2007 08:40 AM