More Voices Calling for a Gas Tax
January 30th, 2007,I’ve been surprised to note more calls for raising the gas tax here in the U.S. See, for example, recent columns from Steve Chapman and Charles Krauthammer. Now what’s the chance of this tax increase happening, as useful as it would be? Probably not great. There would be short-term pain and long-term gain, but it’s the former that runs our politics.
January 30th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
It is a damnable situation. Everything has a cost, but some things cost less than others! As my sister - who lives in the Netherlands - wrote recently during a holiday trip to the States, “The
Netherlands is to bicycles as the U.P. [Upper Peninsula of Michigan] is to snowmobiles. Only bicycles are gassed up at the dinner table, not the corner gas station.” Same goes for cars.
On a semi-related note, I wanted to be sure you noted this great article by Robert Sullivan in the Times on making New York more friendly to bikers and walkers: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/opinion/29sullivan.html?ei=5090&en=99f92dcfa8f79905&ex=1327726800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
For me, it’s full of good ideas that could readily be implemented here, there, and everywhere.
January 31st, 2007 at 10:52 am
I like your sister’s quote! Thanks much for pointing me to the Sullivan article, which I had not seen before. I’ll do an entry on it.