[Curlew]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bshirt', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'I') can assure you that not all Peak Oilers favor a gas tax. I, for one, don't care for additional taxes.

[bshirt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Curlew', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bshirt', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'I') can assure you that not all Peak Oilers favor a gas tax. I, for one, don't care for additional taxes.

[phaster]

YES if politicans and people realize a tax IMHO is suppose to serve two functions:

1) collect revenues for wise use by the government

2) send signals to the consumer to select the most economic mode of a product....

right now with US fuel taxes being so low in compairson to places like europe, people bought lots of fuel inefficent vehicles like SUVs and the big three US companies gladly produced them...

So I'd favor, a gas tax of say $2.00 plus right away and be indexed every few years to adjust for price changes, if the money collected was used ONLY for building up a sustainable economy (like what the german government does right now with their push to build up a solar panel industry) or building up public transportation infrastructure which can serve the dual purpose of improving public transportation and making transporting goods more environmentally friendly.

There no doubt a sudden increase in taxes would cause major short term economic pain, and politicans and corporations use to the status que would view this as political/economic suicide, but the eventual cost of not taking major action now would be far worst.

As it stands even though the USA lags far behind in addressing global warming/peak oil issues when compaired to the EU and japan, it has far more resources than developing economies like china/india so IMHO the only way the big problems of global warming/peak oil is if the policy leaders in washington DC (who so far have not had the balls or brains to confront the issue head on), actually setaside their BS pandering to their base and take decisive action!!!!!!

Yeah I know lots of people would bitch (myself included) about sudden and major increase in fuel taxes, but I'd hope if people fully understood the problem and US politicans had an honest discussion about the facts and looked at the pig picture that we only have one planet to live on, then I think people would see the long term benefit (or at least that is what I'd like to believe).











$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Daryl', 'T')alking about the US of course. If I'm not mistaken the current gas tax is 40 cents a gallon. The proceeds go to highway maintenance? The best proposal I have heard so far is too peg gas at $3 per gallon (its post Katrina high, since it has fallen back to $2.) The wholesale price would fluctuate, so the tax revenue would be variable. Of course, if the wholesale price went above $3, the price would have to go up.

This idea has been proposed by Charles Krauthammer, a Washington Post columnist who is considered an major neo-con Republican insider. This was in the Nov 11 issue of the WP.

[MonteQuest]

A gas tax to curb consumption would have to be high enough to destroy the economy.

People will cut other consumption before driving less. We are seeing it now.

Driving is considered an essential.

How high would the price of air or water have to go before you drank or breathed less of it?

We will put our last dollar into the gas tank.

[joewp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'A') gas tax to curb consumption would have to be high enough to destroy the economy.

[perdition79]

A gas tax wouldn't postpone any crash scenario. Remember Jevon's Paradox. We cut our consumption of gasoline by 25 percent, an oil surplus happens and the price of crude drops. China buys up that oil at a cheaper rate, builds their industry that much quicker, and their increased industrial production consumes even more oil, raising the price in the long term. Thus America's conservation efforts would ultimately hurt America. Jevon's Paradox really is a perfect catch-22, isn't it?

[MrBill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('perdition79', 'A') gas tax wouldn't postpone any crash scenario. Remember Jevon's Paradox. We cut our consumption of gasoline by 25 percent, an oil surplus happens and the price of crude drops. China buys up that oil at a cheaper rate, builds their industry that much quicker, and their increased industrial production consumes even more oil, raising the price in the long term. Thus America's conservation efforts would ultimately hurt America. Jevon's Paradox really is a perfect catch-22, isn't it?

[Bas]

Jevons Paradox was only relevant up until the production peak. As we can't increase our production of oil anymore any efficiency gains cannot lead to more consumption anymore.

[Curlew]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bshirt', 'I') assure you I am not and have never been a politician, investor or worker for the oil industry....I wonder how collectivist fans like you, Curlew, are going to survive PO when you can no longer vote to steal other's money?

[bshirt]

Curlew;

I too sincerely apologize for the harsh words.

I have no clue how things are in the UK, but here in the US for several decades we Americans "LOVE" to vote for tax, tax, tax.....as long as it's perceived it's "someone else" who gets hammered.

I'm sure you British wonder why we revolted originally when "taxation without representation" is a defacto way of life here? It's a quick and easy way to steal other's money via mob rule.

Doesn't make a lot of sense, huh?

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'J')evons Paradox was only relevant up until the production peak. As we can't increase our production of oil anymore any efficiency gains cannot lead to more consumption anymore.