I thought Congress had hit bottom a while ago when, in the face of catastrophic fuel prices they indignantly refused to lift the ban on drilling. As we all know, Bush then lifted the executive order against drilling. Oil prices fell, but that little taste of public good wasn’t palatable for our august lawmakers. Now—in a very quiet bid to see just how low they can go—they are talking about raising the federal gas tax.
The problem, of course, is high gas prices. Americans have responded by driving less. We are buying more online, consolidating errands, telecommuting or making other creative changes to our work hours. All this has had the cumulative effect of lowering the amount of gas we buy and, therefore, lowering the amount of tax we pay on that gasoline.
Am I missing something? Isn’t that what the environmentalists, not to mention their congressional pals, wanted? Ridiculously high prices and lower consumption? Of course, they wanted to accomplish thi... [Read Full Article]
