While our leaders in Washington seem to believe there’s little they can do to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil in the short term, there are in fact a number of things they can do, but it will require some creativity and a healthy dose of political courage. For example, if the President Bush and Congress would raise taxes on gasoline, and offset that tax increase with a decrease in income taxes, American’s would be no worse off in terms of their total tax bills, but we would have some pretty strong incentive to reduce our consumption of fuel. If those taxes were scheduled to gradually increase every year, perhaps by 5% per year, while also reducing income taxes by an equivalent amount, Americans and American businesses would have the incentive and a vision for their need to reduce fuel and energy consumption. Our leaders in Washington suggest that technology and increasing domestic supplies of energy are the key to energy independence. However, real reductions in America’s energy dependency, as well, as reducing pollution and global warming, are tied to reducing our consumption of energy, particularly fuel for cars and trucks.
TAX OIL, NOT WORK
