Green insincerity

virgil tibbs sheik_of_encino at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 21 10:09:17 PST 2002


My suspicion is that it would be regressive -- similar to raising sin taxes -- which also promote good social policy.

To my untrained eye, it seems as if it would punish people in the now in the hope that the government would build public transit. And even if it could be shown that the rich and poor (using blunt measures for the time being) are per capita affected equally at the gas pump, the poor have less discretionary income to "eat" that increase and the real economic effect on the poor would be much greater given the inevitable hike in food prices.

Just a thought.

eric

--- Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> Doug writes:
>
> > A simple first step would be a sharp increase in
> the gasoline tax in
> > the U.S.
>
> What's the basis for this idea that making driving
> more expensive would
> cut down on it? Auto use is growing in Europe
> despite the high
> prices. And what do you say to those people who are
> on the hairy edge
> of existence and aren't served well by transit who
> need their
> (typically under-maintained, over-polluting) cars to
> get to the minimum
> wage that keeps them in baseline food, clothing and
> shelter?
>
> Driving is just for rich people?
>
> -----
>
> I think a "simple first step" would be to ban, at
> the federal level
> (probably by using the Big Stick of withholding
> highway subsidies),
> tollbooths. Not only do they cause an enormous
> amount of
> extra pollution, but they are a general burden on
> GDP.
>
> /jordan

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