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| Friday, November 11, 2005 |
| Krauthammer wants a gas tax |
Charles Krauthammer (Charles Krauthammer!) agrees with me on a gas tax. He advocates setting a $3 floor on gas prices and calling the difference between the real price and $3 the new federal gas tax, which then is used to reduce social security, income, and even corporate taxes in exactly the same amount.
Very similar to the NYTimes's idea I discussed last week. It has to be a revenue-neutral tax because the gas tax itself would be regressive and hit lower-income people harder. As long as it's neutral to them it won't hurt, but will incentivize them to think of ways to reduce their gasoline usage by carpooling more, buying cleaner vehicles, etc.
CK also address ANWR, which the Senate voted to open up last week, but the House stripped out of their version of the same budget bill. So that one will be decided in conference. Kraut obviously wants to open it up. As I wrote back in March, I'm on the fence on ANWR. The West Wing debate was right - it's huge, and no one goes there, and the environmental impact (if done correctly - big if) should be fairly minimal.
We have to solve this oil dependency problem, and we need people to keep proposing innovative ideas. |
posted by CB @ 9:57 AM   |
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