Raise The Tax On Gas! (circa 2004)

by BWK ~ June 26, 2008

Gas Tax Increase A couple years ago in Whiskey & Gunpowder, when gasoline was $2 per gallon, I mentioned in passing that the US ought to tax gas so that it sells for $3.50 or $4.

Really, it was a throwaway line. Just “Wouldn’t it be good for the country if we could start to get away from using so much gas just to sit in traffic, and tax gas so that there would be some money to pay for the next generation of transport systems?”

Something like that…

Wow. Did the readers email me on that one? The tamest emails were along the lines of… “I’ll never read you again” and that kind of stuff. The heavier ones were that I’m a statist, socialist, Marxist, Commie Bolshevik who wants people to give up their freedoms at the point of a gun.

Now, three years later, we have the $4 gas, but all the money is going to Vladimir Putin and King Abdullah and Hugo Chavez and the list continues…

Too bad. If we had taxed it, we might not be in such a world of energy strife right now.

Until we meet again,

Byron King

Note: Byron King is a frequent contributor to the free e-letter Whiskey & Gunpowder. To receive daily insights into energy, oil, commodities and other natural resources sign up here!

Additional Resources:
Oil Defies a Correction…
The Airline Waiting Game…
Energy Q&A Part II: Investing in Oil Refiners and Oil Service Companies
Energy Q&A Part I: Peak Oil and Oil
The Oil “Melt-Up” and Why the U.S. Economy Won’t Run On Windmills Alone…
US Agriculture Supply and the Coming Election
U.S. Factories: Where Did They Go?
The 2nd Fed… Carbon Permits