This doesn’t have much chance of happening but it should. The federal gas tax has been at 18.4 cents since 1993 when the price of gas was about $1 a gallon. Now that gas is over $3 a gallon the gas tax is a much smaller percentage of the price. The gas tax needs to be raised to help improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure.
That isn’t why I think the gas tax should be increased though. I think it should be increased to help change people’s gas consumption habits. Many people complain about the high cost of gas now but not that many make changes to deal with high gas prices. If gas prices go back down most people will return to their old habits and sales of gas-guzzlers will rise once again. An increase in the gas tax might help people to adopt or continue with gas-saving practices. The price of gas in the United States has long been extremely low compared to the price in Europe. The United States uses over 5 times as much gas and diesel per capita compared to Europe. Higher gas taxes would reduce consumption and help lead to greener alternatives such as walking,bicycling, and use of public transportation. I don’t expect there to be a significant increase in the gas tax any time soon but it needs to happen eventually.
I agree, and I would like to see the tax money used to fund alternative energy programs.
THINK: Even alternative energy requires FOSSIL FUELS to produce: plastics/polymers/eletricity/vehicles to SHIP product/pacakaging/etc.
When the shite runs out… PRAY.. that you die quickly!
Countries in Europe are so small and have great mass transportation systems that they can get away with higher prices to force people to use that transportation. Plus other than England, none of these countries have their own oil reserves (we have Alaska, the Gulf Coast, Texas, Oklahoma, et al) so of course we pay less than countries that don’t have their own oil. I always roll my eyes when someone compares the U.S. oil prices to Europes (plus we put the resources into finding the oil in the Middle East, they still use our equipment and technical know-how – so if any country deserves a price break it’s us, or they’d still be nomadic bedouins and not the richest people in the world).