…Gas Taxes and Prices Should Be Even Higher.
1. Higher gas prices encourage people to drive less. Walk. Run. Ride a bike. Take public transportation. Reduce congestion. Save some money. Do something good for the environment.
2. Higher gas prices may get some SUVs off the road. They’re big, obnoxious and generally redundant for city driving. How many times have you seen a Hummer need to jump a curb?
3. High gas prices encourage innovation and investment into fuel efficient vehicles and alternative fuels. Hybrid cars are a start, but there’s a ton of room for solar, plug-ins, hydrogen and a bunch of other stuff in labs that we haven’t even heard of yet.
4. High gas prices will force people to be green. Most people talk green, but don’t walk green. Start walking!
5. While higher gas prices do contribute to greater profits for Big Oil, it also translates into higher revenue for government. Hopefully, this added revenue is used for additional services and resources to benefit its constituents. Hopefully.
Update: Even the New York Times’ Freakonomics supports higher gas prices!
August 16th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Gents
I am really enjoying your site. You make an excellent point about gas prices that few people are willing to make. The best thing that could happen for the environment and our “addiction to (foreign) oil” would be for gas prices to go through the roof. It would certainly hurt in the short term but the benefits would be well worth it. Look at the size of cars in Europe; they don’t waste gas at $6 a gallon.
August 17th, 2007 at 6:48 am
Wow, our first comment!
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