Why stop at taxing gas? People complain when they come out to the East Coast because they have to pay more for cigarettes and alcohol.. but while these items are taxed heavily, I don't have to pay any tax on books, clothing or food.

Well, you do pay a sales tax on your books and clothing... as well as the other things... but...

Gas and smokes and alcohol fall into the special category of things that have high costs that aren't paid by the industries that are instead passed on to society. The World Health Organization recently stated that the health costs to society from these legal drugs outweighed that of illegal drugs. Despite what tobacco company executives may say, cigarettes make people sick and the burden is placed on everyone to care for them and it's a relatively high and preventable cost. While the taxes on those drugs doesn't make up for the cost or bring back lives, it does bring in some and, more importantly, discourages people from using.

Similarly, the oil industry shifts environmental, health, and other burdens from themselves to everyone else. But unlike tobacco and alcohol the supply of oil is finite and we're at or near Peak Oil. As we fall down the production slope, with more people buying cars and spending more time driving, we face the danger of an economy unable to compensate rapidly enough for out of control prices. So the choice shouldn't be framed so much as between current cheap gas prices versus slightly more taxes gas, rather between steadily and predictably increasing gas prices versus an oil price crisis in a couple years.

One last piece that I touched on is that currently we subsidize sprawl by paying for the roads that connect new housing developments. Spawl development, with all its inefficiencies and increased environmental costs, shift these unnecessary costs from themselves to everyone else. To get back to your original point... a gas tax is much more highly related to sprawl subsidization than the sale of books and clothes. :)

Regardless of the price of gas, (which is a highly effective diversion for political leaders, let's make Congress pay into Social Security.

I was told that they pay no tax into it because they voted themselves out at one point? Because they have their own private plan? Any help here is appreciated, as I would like to know if this is indeed fact. There will be no $$$ for us at retirement age, so I feel they should be investing in something useless with their 'hard-earned' money as well so that they can see how important it is to plan for things that really matter like gas, cigarettes, and beer.

me rikey smokes

I dunno what gets taken out of their paychecks.. but I do wish that I could sit around with my coworkers and vote on how much more money we should make! It can be a tough decision figuring out how much of a raise to give yourself (no matter how well the country is doing).. just high enough that everybody isn't completely outraged.

Maybe national politicians should be paid in some kind of profit-sharing system where their pay is based on how well the economy, etc. is doing. But are any of them not independently wealthy enough that they don't have to worry about retirement?

the thing about gas is that everyone is paying tons of hidden taxes for it anyways. most of the other things that are taxed are directly harmful to your health, while the effects of driving are harmful to the enviornment, which = harmful to everyone in the long run. also, many more people pay taxes than have health insurance or smoke/drink, so taxes on gasoline effect a much larger group of people.

with the government taxing the hell out of cigarettes and beer, all you have to not pay incredibly high taxes on them is stop drinking and smoking... abra cadabra, problem solved, you no longer have to pay huge taxes on those two items. getting out of paying taxes in general (i.e. taxes on things related to gasoline) is much more difficult.

i took some hippy class last year and i heard that the REAL price of gasoline is around $8 a gallon if you take into account all the other taxes we pay related to it, you know, like for highways to be built and maintained, cleaning up the related pollution, police salaries, etc.

i NEVER drive because 1.) i am cheap and 2.) i am kind of a hippy myself. i think that the jerks that drive escalades and hummers should have to pay $8 a gallon right at the pump before they cruise around high street to pick up some chickenheads 'cause when i get my little corolla out like 10 times a year and i'm careful about how much i drive, and i drive to do things like go to the doctor.

i know i'm in the minority right now, but i think that as more people cut down on how much gas they use due to increasing gas prices and the advent of more fuel efficent cars, more people will see things from my perspective.

I don't know all of the details about congress having a private retirement plan, but it probably is true for all federal employees, as well as most state employees. My mom works for the state of Ohio and she doesn't pay social security.

Also, overeating causes way more health problems than tobacco and alcohol combined. If we really want to cut back on the health costs of our nation, we should make healthy food cheeper and tax high sugar, high starch, high fat foods.

Annie, great points. The real price of gasoline is absolutely staggering and is yet another example of populations in "giver" urban areas subsidizing those in "taker" areas in the hinterlands, and not being able to get out of paying for other people's gas use even if they are aware of it. This does nothing to encourage those in the hinterlands to change their ways... why should they?

One other thing about 'Lades and Hummers is that because they're so goddamn massive and heavy, they're good candidates for adding hybrid technology for storing back power. But yeah I do not think we decided to subsidize SUVs with tax benefits for the pickup and delivery of chickenheads on High Street.

Brette, I agree with you too. Obesity is our nation's number one health problem now. Ideally, a junk food tax would be in direct proportion to the junk-ness factor of a food item but I imagine that'd be difficult to calculate. Taxing sugar, since it has absolutely no nutritional value and thus only makes people sicker (intake of calories decreases lifespan) is a good place to start. However, this would require for President Bush to take the Big Sugar lobby out of his pocket. The first step would be for our government to stop denying that sugar is not good for you.

Some places already tax pop and junk food. Maybe this should be spread throughout the nation. Why does it cost more to buy a bottle of water than a can of Coke?

i figured at least someone would enjoy this link comparing the price of a gallon of gas to the prices of a gallon of other things, such as evian and nyquil: the price of things

FEHBP:
The Federal Employee Health Benefits Program is the name of the program used by senators and representatives. These health care plans are offered by the same companies that sell coverage to all citizens, but the price is substantially lower for representatives and the plans cover more situations and their immediate family.

Learned about this when I worked for the Dean campaign. FYI-Dean's plan was to allow the FEHBP program, but REQUIRE it be accessable and available to EVERY American citizen.