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The Case for a War Tax — on Gas
Time Magazine ^ | April 19, 2004 | Andrew Sullivan

Posted on 04/18/2004 6:30:15 AM PDT by upchuck

Gas prices are too low. There. I said it. Even when they peak this summer, as most analysts predict, they will be too low. And they're too low in large part because gas is woefully undertaxed in this countrya state of affairs that is bad for the economy, bad for drivers and bad for our foreign policy. In fact, one of the simplest and best things any Administration could do right now would be to add a buck per gallon to the federal gas tax, which is currently just 18.4¢. Now that I have alienated almost every reader of this column, allow me to defend myself.

The worst knock against a gas tax is that it is, well, a tax. Who likes that? But with soaring deficits and a war to pay for, taxes are not an option — they're a necessity. The only relevant question is, Which taxes? The case for a gas tax is a straightforward one. Gas prices are strikingly lower in America than anywhere else in the world; 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, 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?

The idea is so obviously a good one that in their recent absurd bickering over who is responsible for higher gas prices, neither George W. Bush nor John Kerry has gone near it. That would take a perspicacity most politicians lack. It's worth recalling that even Bush's chief economic adviser, Gregory Mankiw, once supported it. During the golden five minutes of budget surpluses in the late 1990s, Mankiw favored raising gas taxes as a way to reduce income taxes. Such a policy mix, he believed, "would lead to more rapid economic growth, less traffic congestion, safer roads and reduced risk of global warming — all without jeopardizing long-term fiscal solvency. This may be the closest thing to a free lunch that economics has to offer."

So why is it so unpopular? Some say it's inherently regressive — that it affects the poor more than the rich. In reality, it tends to affect the middle class more than anyone else, especially those in the suburbs with more than one car. The truly needy tend to consume less gas than their middle-class compatriots. Others say it penalizes those in remote and rural areas. So what? Very few taxes are perfect, and our electoral system — with its over-representation of big agricultural states in the Senate — already pampers the rural. (I'd gladly exchange a gas-tax hike for abolition of agricultural subsidies. Any takers in Iowa?)

Some conservatives say it's antithetical to the American Dream. Hooey. Conservatism in America rightly emphasizes personal responsibility alongside freedom. You can't have one without the other. And using a car affects not just you but many others. When your driving habits lead to higher levels of pollution, when your ownership of a gas-inhaling 2-ton SUV puts others on the road at risk, when traffic jams drastically reduce the country's productivity (as well as make radio shock jocks into millionaires), don't you think you might give a little back in return? To paraphrase the President, can't we shift from a philosophy of "If it feels good, do it" to one of responsibility?

The real reason so many Americans hate gas taxes is that they see them. The government can eat away at your life with payroll taxes, but because they are usually deducted before you get to see your paycheck, you don't notice. But the price of gas is broadcast on big placards across the country. When it goes up, eyebrows rise a notch. But that's a good thing! The government has to tax you somehow. Isn't it better to shift taxation to places where people notice it, so they can demand accountability? The gas tax is therefore a win-win conservative-liberal synthesis. It cuts the deficit, helps the environment and keeps the government fiscally honest and accountable.

Let me add one further reason, and it's a simple one. We're at war. So far, the Bush Administration has refused to ask for a general sacrifice to pay for this effort. But that leads to a sense that we're not all involved, that we do not all owe the troops our support. More important, the war is about the Middle East. A long-term strategy to protect us from constant involvement in that region would include greater energy independence. A gas tax helps pay for our current struggle and helps us avoid future ones. Why not therefore a wartime gas tax of a dollar a gallon? If we do not owe it to our fellow citizens, to the environment, to greater fuel efficiency, can we at least owe it to the troops? Or is that minimal level of personal sacrifice too much to ask of ourselves?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; gasprices; gastaxes
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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.)


1 posted on 04/18/2004 6:30:19 AM PDT by upchuck
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To: upchuck
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.
2 posted on 04/18/2004 6:32:53 AM PDT by mabelkitty (John Kerry is the sad clown of life.)
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To: upchuck
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.

3 posted on 04/18/2004 6:35:27 AM PDT by rageaholic
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To: upchuck
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.
4 posted on 04/18/2004 6:42:12 AM PDT by thoughtomator (Waiting for Hamas to announce the name of the IDF's next target...)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: upchuck
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.

6 posted on 04/18/2004 6:43:24 AM PDT by KfromMich
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To: upchuck
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."

7 posted on 04/18/2004 6:45:00 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing. - Ann Coulter 4/1/04, How 9-11 Happened)
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To: KfromMich
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.

I think they just modified it from some confusing mess to a flat 3%. Every time you make a phone call, make sure to "Remember the Maine!"

8 posted on 04/18/2004 6:46:24 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing. - Ann Coulter 4/1/04, How 9-11 Happened)
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To: upchuck
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.
9 posted on 04/18/2004 6:46:32 AM PDT by SVTCobra03 (You can never have enough friends, horsepower or ammunition.)
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To: upchuck
If it makes you feel better, Mr sullivan, give the gas station rookie an extra $20...
10 posted on 04/18/2004 6:46:46 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: upchuck
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?
11 posted on 04/18/2004 6:53:27 AM PDT by GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY
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To: thoughtomator
How about a "homosexual tax" on gasoline ....

Better still, a "homosexual tax" on Vaseline.

12 posted on 04/18/2004 6:55:17 AM PDT by Agnes Heep (Solus cum sola non cogitabuntur orare pater noster)
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To: upchuck
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.
13 posted on 04/18/2004 6:59:32 AM PDT by GailA (Kerry I'm for the death penalty for terrorist, but I'll declare a moratorium on the death penalty)
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To: upchuck
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!
14 posted on 04/18/2004 7:03:10 AM PDT by Waco
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To: GailA
In Friday's Best of the Web James Taranto instructs us to remember the correct pronunciation of Mrs. Kerry's name by remembering her husband wants Ter-raze-uh our taxes.
15 posted on 04/18/2004 7:07:11 AM PDT by jocon307 (The dems don't get it, the American people do.)
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To: upchuck
Are you so sure that John Kerry didn't write that piece under a pseudonym?
16 posted on 04/18/2004 7:07:49 AM PDT by TheBattman (Leadership = http://www.georgewbush.com/)
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To: upchuck
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?

17 posted on 04/18/2004 7:09:07 AM PDT by JimRed (Fight election fraud! Volunteer as a local poll watcher, challenger or district official.)
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To: upchuck
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.

18 posted on 04/18/2004 7:09:51 AM PDT by Just Lori (I used to be a Democrat. Now, I'm an American!)
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To: Waco
In Poland we pay almost 1$ for a litre (1gallon=3,785 litre) and about half of it is a tax, so I can tell you it isn't good idea.
19 posted on 04/18/2004 7:13:59 AM PDT by Grzegorz 246
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To: upchuck
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.

20 posted on 04/18/2004 7:45:51 AM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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