Is a Gas Tax a Good Idea?

There was an interesting article in The Vindicator Sunday, detailing how auto makers have to react to a very dynamic fuel market. After all, gas prices jumped up quickly, stayed high long enough to impact sales and the car makers drew criticism for not having enough high mileage/ hybrid cars for sale. Columnists and buyers alike took them to the woodshed because there was a glut of SUV's and pick up trucks on dealer lots when all we really wanted, at that time, were Prius'. Why couldn't their crystal ball predict that we would want high mileage vehicles? After all, the American public had spent the last twenty years buying monster trucks. How dare auto makers make and sell what we asked for?

Of course gas prices are back down and everyone who still has a job can afford a tank of gas. Those without jobs can't afford an internet connection so nobody knows what they think. In the meantime, though, the Big Three have faltered and gone to the government to beg for money. The government has given it to them because even George Bush can see that allowing another million to lose their jobs would be a bad idea.

So now we are all investors in the American automotive industry and, as investors, we expect our investment to yield a positive return. The thing is, do we have the maturity to further help ourselves by helping the auto industry with a gas tax?

Designing and building a car is hard. The article states there is a five year design process before a new car gets to the dealer's lot. Someone has to look into the future and discern what our tastes will be in five years, new technologies have to be invented and someone has to figure out where the cup holders will go. Now we're asking the car makers to accurately predict the price of gasoline and telling them to retool for hybrids.

A gas tax is exactly what we need. The reasons are obvious and plentiful:

• Being dependent on foreign oil means we are not secure- All the people in the world right now who hate us are the ones we buy oil from. This is probably a bad idea. (Except the Canadians. They still seem fond of us.)


• A gas tax would allow auto makers to design cars that are efficient and guarantee there will be a market for them- We're investing a lot of money in the automotive industry. It's in our best interest to make sure there is a market for their products.


• The additional revenue can be used for infrastructure repairs instead of borrowing the money- China's economy is in a tailspin too. That means they will be buying less Treasury investments, no matter how much crap you buy at Wal-Mart.

• The additional revenue can help fund research into green technologies- Somebody has to pay research scientists. Not every idea is a good one so subsidizing research until a pay off idea is found is necessary. Believe me, if someone knew how to make the hydrogen fuel cell work cheaply, they would be strolling along a private beach right now. Until then someone has to keep the researches in Ramen noodles until they do figure it out.

• More people will be encouraged to use mass transit- It's better to let someone else drive and listen to your iPod.

• Mass transit may become more attractive if it has more users- Let's all be honest. The buses look ugly and they never go where you want when you want. That could all change if enough people used them and demanded improvements.


• Less miles driven means less accidents- This is a no brainer. You can't have a car accident if you aren't driving and when gas topped $4.00 a gallon, people eliminated unnecessary driving.

We need to be mature about the gas tax proposals that are floating around. The car makers need a market and we need better, more fuel efficient cars. We need to be safer. Most importantly, we need to innovate. The technologies that will allow gas usage to be reduced or eliminated have not been perfected. That innovation needs to come from the United States so we can be a leader instead of a follower. Heck, it would be great if this research could take place in the Cleveland-Youngstown-Pittsburgh tech belt. It's up to us to decide if we want to pay a little more now for a lot of benefit later or if we want to save a few bucks now and pay India and China later when they invent the technology.