Subjectivist wrote:In 1993 President Clinton should have adopted the penny tax plan. Federal fuel taxes would increase one penny the first Monday of every month until the rates matched those in The EU. The gradual nature of the increase would give more than enough time for the population to gradually shift to more fuel efficient transportation over time. As fuel guzzling trucks and SUV's wore out they would be replaced with more efficient types. Now 21 years later our fuel tax would be around $2.50, still far below EU levels, but we wouldn't even notice a $1.00 change in fuel price much because the proportional change would be much less going from $5.50 to $4.50 than the change from $3.50 to $2.50
+1
Sounds perfect to me. However, I wanted to start in 1980 during the THIRD big oil price spike within a single decade. (Seemed like pretty good evidence to me that oil was going to be a long term issue for the planetary population -- so time to get serious about conservation).
One tweak I'd add -- when the price gets to the level of the EU (average), I'd have the country reassess. Perhaps the right price is the price needed to pay ALL the known social costs, including ALL military protection of oil, oil shipping, etc. Or maybe the right price is the level required to get people to SERIOUSLY conserve energy. (i.e. perhaps the right price is higher (maybe much higher) than the typical EU price.
Sadly, given the typical American attitude (buy everything one can afford AND borrow, and to hell with the consequences because "That's my right" -- good luck getting the short sighted populace or the clowns they elect to go for anything so rational or requiring long term thinking.
One nice side effect is the tax revenue is quickly there to likely take care of the modernizing of ALL the basic transportation, water, electric, energy maintenance (like aging gas lines) etc. in coming years, solving pretty much the entire infrastructure problem. Heck, there might be a lot more revenue than that -- so some debt could be paid down, etc.
And for those who scream about regressive taxes, the poor, etc. -- there could even be limited tax credits for "the poor" (which already generally receive net federal income taxes, by the way).
But no, better to continue American BAU and blame someone, anyone -- else for all the oil we burn to have more stuff and a "better" lifestyle.