The right price to pollute

Should governments be taking any action to encourage or discourage use of sensitive commodities? Is a federal gas-tax holiday like the one proposed by John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton the right way to handle a finite resource? Gary Gardner and Gregory Clark debate.

Commentators have noted that a gas-tax holiday would encourage the use of gasoline, a vital resource. True enough. Less noted is that the proposal would also further stress the atmosphere — another vital resource because of its central role in regulating our climate. The proposals by John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton would, in sum, mismanage at least two precious resources. In a “full world” characterized by greater competition over resources (see my Monday post), the United States needs leadership that understands the value of the planet’s natural endowment and works to preserve it.

Washington can do many things to conserve resources, starting with exercising its own fiscal and regulatory powers. Imagine our candidates shelving the tax-holiday idea and debating instead how to reshape transportation to provide cleaner and cheaper mobility choices. Subsidies for hybrids? More investment in public transit and less in highways? Inexpensive initiatives such as public bike-rental programs, which are all the rage in Europe? More parking spaces for car-sharing programs? These would help address voters’ concerns about expensive transport, acknowledge a shift to an era of more expensive driving and conserve oil and healthy atmospheric space in the process.

LA Times