Can
disincentives get the US off oil?
Tuesday, May 21, 2008
It's
the auto, stupid
I'm a fan of the gas tax as a way to move America off
oil, an idea which would push most Americans to call me
crazy. Of course, I think most Americans are crazy for
not taking foreign oil dependency - and their individual
role in that dependency - far more seriously.
But, if a gas tax were utilized intelligently, which is
a bit of an impossibility in today's Congress and
political world, couldn't it be used to create effective
change? Wouldn't increased taxes be a great way to
upgrade America's deteriorating infrastructure? Couldn't
a massive increase in infrastructure projects provide a
lot of great paying jobs? Couldn't income tax reductions
be used to balance the impact of higher gas taxes on the
poor?
Yes, that sounds like a big bureaucracy, but we have a
big bureaucracy already. Shouldn't we be putting that
bureaucracy to better use?
Likewise, 'intelligent' tax credits could also be used
to help more Americans convert to more fuel efficient
vehicles, and I'm not just referring to tax credits for hybrid
cars, but a plethora of incentives. For example, buy
a solar roof and receive a huge tax credit for a hybrid
to plug-in hybrid conversion, or to buy a pure electric
vehicle.
Can't disincentives be
turned into incentives to get off foreign oil?
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