[upchuck]

Sorry, Mr. Sullivan, I can't agree with you, although I'm positive John F'ing sKerry would give you a hearty embrace. You're speaking his language!

Why not therefore a wartime gas tax of a dollar a gallon?

Simple, because it will never go away! I've read that part of the telephone taxes we pay was to finance some small war that was over a long time ago. We're still paying the tax! (Sorry I don't have better info on this.)

[mabelkitty]

Mr. Sullivan obviously has a driver and a huge expense account or great tax write-offs.

We of the dirty masses don't have such luxuries.

[rageaholic]

Actually this is a tax I wouldn't mind paying. Knowing that a few pennies go to some Arabs every time I tank up pisses me off.

Knowing that a couple of bucks went to buy bullets to put in their heads would really cheer me up. I'm for it.

[thoughtomator]

Howabout a "homosexual tax" on gasoline to pay for all the medical services consumed by the AIDS population? Makes just as much sense, really - perhaps more.

[KfromMich]

I've read that part of the telephone taxes we pay was to finance some small war that was over a long time ago. We're still paying the tax!

If I rember correctly, the telephone tax was to pay for the Spanish American War, and Congress finally did repeal that one a couple years ago: about a century after the war the tax was supposed to pay for was over. So if we go by that example, we could very well be paying the proposed increased gas tax in the 22nd century.

[KarlInOhio]

The real reason so many Americans hate gas taxes is that they see them.

No, they don't see them. Ask the typical person how much they pay in gas tax. They will have no idea. In Ohio, the total state and fed tax are about $0.42 per gallon. That value should be posted on every gas pump in the state. Instead the pump just lists a generic "all taxes are included in price."

[SVTCobra03]

This is so wrong on so many levels; suffice to say that the purpose of taxation is to fund the constitutionally mandated functions of the government, not to modify behavior.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If it makes you feel better, Mr sullivan, give the gas station rookie an extra $20...

[GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY]

Let's see gas at $3 a gallon. Hmmmm. Good idea Sullivan -- if you want to ensure that Bush doesn't get reelected come fall.

I don't call an 18.5 cent tax on a gallon of gas cheap by any means. Ask the average Joe on the street if they even knew the tax existed and they wouldn't. If anything, the government should be lowering or dropping the gas tax while the price of gas rises. But you would never see that happening, now would you?

[GailA]

Did you know hanoi john f-ing's wife Te-Razor...the enviro whacko rides or drives a gas guzzling SUV? It was in the NY Post article where she said she didn't like the USA.

[Waco]

There's nothing stopping this clown or anyone else from sending 3, 5 or 10 bucks for each gallon they buy at the pump. Donation to the general fund, sort of. ANYBODY can give the guv ANY or ALL of their $$$! But who are the assholes who keep saying EVERYBODY should do this? One wrote this article!

[TheBattman]

Are you so sure that John Kerry didn't write that piece under a pseudonym?

[JimRed]

Others say it penalizes those in remote and rural areas. So what?

Translation: I live in NY/DC/LA/SF; who cares about flyover country?

[Just Lori]

Now that I have alienated almost every reader of this column, allow me to defend myself.

(You write for Time Magazine.......there is no defense.)


The worst knock against a gas tax is that it is, well, a tax. Who likes that?

(Liberals love it!)

But with soaring deficits and a war to pay for, taxes are not an option — they're a necessity.

(Only to the simple-minded who can't come up with another plan, say, something helpful)

The only relevant question is, Which taxes?

(We already pay taxes on every single thing we use, buy, or dream about...taxes on every bill we pay.....it's sickening)

The case for a gas tax is a straightforward one. Gas prices are strikingly lower in America than anywhere else in the world;

(THIS IS THE CRUX OF THE MATTER.....AMERICANS ARE NOT PAYING AS MUCH AS THE FRENCH FOR GAS! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT IT'S NOT IT'S NOT!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAA)

such taxes are relatively easy to collect; since an overwhelming majority of Americans drive, few avoid the tax; and by adding a cost to the wanton consumption of gasoline, you actually encourage conservation,

(I think he's talking about those awful SUV's)

accelerate fuel efficiency, reduce pollution, cut traffic and help WEAN AMERICANS off the oil that requires the U.S. to be so intimately involved in that wonderful cesspool of rival hatreds, the Middle East. So what's not to like?

Ah....forcing behavior changes on the masses......by the few. Seems to me that's been done before...... a few names come to mind. Stalin, Hitler, Castro........ This writer must have studied.

[vbmoneyspender]

and help wean Americans off the oil that requires the U.S. to be so intimately involved in that wonderful cesspool of rival hatreds, the Middle East.

Sullivan is a cut off your nose to spite your face kinda guy. Reagan had a similar problem during the 1980s when the Soviet Union was relying on rising oil prices to keep its economy afloat. What was Reagan's solution? Was it to raise taxes so that the people would stop using oil that, in part, came from the Soviet Union. No, that was not his solution, because that would be stupid. Such an act would have harmed the United States where it needed to be its strongest in defeating the Soviet Union. Reagan's strategy was to spend the Sovient Union into the grave through increased defense outlays, but raising gas prices would have been made such a strategy immeasurably harder to carry out if our economy had started to contract due to increased gasoline prices.

So what was Reagan's strategy? It was to get the Saudis to increase production to the point that it was no longer economically feasible for the Soviets to continue selling oil, which brings us back to today. Is the solution to defunding Middle East scum who support terrorists to raise gas taxes? No that is not the solution because that would be stupid and counterproductive. With economies like China and India growing, demand for Middle East oil is going to continue even if we cut back on our consumption. So all increasing gas prices will do is hurt our economy, which has been a principle goal of Osama bin Laden all along - that is why his principle attack on us was at the WTC towers.

If we want to hurt Middle East terror states that rely on oil sales (i.e. Saudi Arabia), we must find a way to increase oil production. One way to start would be to allow offshore all oil drilling in California and Florida, as well as oil drilling in ANWR. If Mr. Sullivan is going to talk about sacrifices let him talk about people making a sacrifice with respect to offshore oil drilling. Plenty of people in this country consider the environment to be sacred, so allowing offshore oil drilling would certainly constitute a sacrifice that Mr. Sullivan should appreciate.

Finally, it should be noted that in Europe, they have had significantly higher gas prices (due to increased taxes) for years. And what has the result been? Well over the past twenty years, Europe has not created any net new jobs. If that is a record Mr. Sullivan wants to emulate, then he should move to Europe, where they consider high taxes and a stagnant economy to be a good thing.

[Paul C. Jesup]

How about a War Tax on the PRESS/MEDIA!! How about $200 dollars for every article a reporter publishes.

[Binghamton_native]

I'm not in favor of this tax, but sometimes I think that we that support our goals in Iraq should stop griping so much about the price of gasoline, and consider the price our part of the sacrifice to support what our brave troops are doing.

[Glenn]

Why don't we cut spending, Andy? Let's make it a national goal to put 1 million government workers on the street by the end of the year.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

How about just disband 90% of federal, state and local governments. Then there would be no need for taxes.

[hripka]

Comments requested on this idea:

How about a $10 tax per barrel of imported oil?

That sure would spur American production.