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Gas Tax Needs Bump

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St. Louis Post Dispatch

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2008

Consumers are enjoying the lowest retail gasoline prices in years, a welcome ray of light in an ever-darkening economic picture.

That's good news for financially strapped American families and for the domestic auto industry, which has struggled to produce the high-mileage vehicles consumers wanted when gas prices spiked at more than $4 a gallon over the summer.

But in the long run - as difficult as this is to accept - low gasoline prices hurt America more than they help. They encourage continued reliance on gas-powered vehicles and harm the efforts to lower carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. They discourage research into new, nonpolluting transportation energy sources - the single greatest technological challenge of the 21st century.

Consider what happened during the early 1980s, when gas prices soared to the then-unheard-of price of $1.38 a gallon. It triggered a surge of research into alternative energy sources such as solar power and electric vehicles. But as soon as prices began to drop, as they did in 1982, so did the rush of investment and research into alternative energy.

After years of failed attempts to increase mileage requirements for new cars - efforts steadfastly opposed by American auto manufacturers and their unions - Congress finally succeeded last year. As a result, U.S. cars must average 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported in 2004 that increasing the federal gasoline tax - which has been 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993 - would reduce consumption faster and at less cost than increasing mileage standards.

The nation that succeeds in developing and deploying new, green technologies will have a major economic advantage in the decades to come. It's crucial that the United States be that nation.

Congress should raise the federal gas tax and push America toward innovation and energy independence.

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