Anyone else thing it's a good idea to make gas cheaper, and thereby (1) boost demand for a diminishing resource obtained from thuggish regimes and (2) discourage the substitution of more sustainable energy sources?

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"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." G.K. Chesterton

My initial question would be how he plans to pay for the stuff that those gas taxes go towards, typically transit maintenance. I'm all for lowering taxes, but you have to say how it affects the budget.

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Ward 29 Chairman - Republican

Sarah Palin: http://www.google.com/search?source=...=Google+Search
Sarah Palin is the Governor of Alaska ... read the link.

What would keep the oil companies from raising their price to the current level with tax, allowing them even greater profit?

Because if they all agreed to raise the price together, it is collusion and the trust busting authority of the government could lay the hammer down on them.

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Ward 29 Chairman - Republican

Sarah Palin: http://www.google.com/search?source=...=Google+Search
Sarah Palin is the Governor of Alaska ... read the link.

I don't think it's a good idea, though I don't know if it's much worse of an idea than sending everyone a $600 check. Maybe a little, because it disproportionately benefits people who made predictably poor decisions, like using a Yukon or Armada to drive one person to work.

I disagree with stopping adding to the strategic petroleum reserve.

Just print more dollars. We'll pay for the deficit later.

Two cheers to McCain for going after the folks gouging drivers at the gas pump: state and federal governments.

Gas Taxes pay for important stuff.
They should make them higher.

At least it's only during the summer.


Where pollution is at it's lowest.

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It's too tall..! it ruins the feel of the city..! It casts massive shadows..! It's an architectural nightmare..! We should stand together and fight this monstrosity that threatens our homes..! ...but amazingly no one tore down the Eiffel Tower.

or.. why we shouldn't always listen to "neighborhood groups" and critics.

Now I generally hate taxation as much as the next conservative; but my primary problem with the state and federal governments laying pigovian taxes on the consumption of gasoline is the obnoxious know-nothings who blame oil companies and politicians for high gas prices, but fail to recognize that the state and federal governments take larger slices of each gasoline dollar (and don't generate one-tenth of the productivity that gasoline producers and consumers do).

I generally support high gas taxes much more so than other taxes. I point you to Greg Mankiw's blog for further discussion of why pigovian taxes are appropriate. Of course, he doesn't have tags on his site to find his posts on pigovian taxes, but if you google "greg mankiw" and "pigou," you'll probably get a lot of results. [Boy, that's great. I don't even have to explain how they work. I can just point to Mankiw and say, "ta da!"]

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"Everything that guy just said is bull$h!t! Thank you."

-- Vincent LaGuardia Gambini

Which is why I was glad McCain pointed the finger at the taxes instead of the oil companies. I just find it irritating when a lawmaker votes for an increase in the gas tax and then goes on television complaining about the high cost of gas.

BTW, I'd like someone to come up with a concept like a "Pigovian rebate." It would involve paying people back for the negative externalities of government actions like unwise regulation or poorly conceived market interventions.