Where’s is the energy plan?

Let’s subsidize wind turbines and solar panels or perhaps car batteries; better still let’s subsidize electric cars. Is this part of an energy independence plan, a clean energy or maybe global warming plan? Who knows? The fact is we don’t have much of any plan just hit or miss initiatives designed to make us feel good and appease one interest group or another.

Some well intentioned but misguided folks think if you require everyone to have a very high deductible they will use health care differently and we will save money. Health care is not a commodity that motivates people to either save money or think unemotionally, but gasoline is.

When the price of gas goes up people change their habits. They wait in line at no name stations to save a few cents a gallon, they use mass transit, they car pool, they pay cash in lieu of credit and some even buy a more efficient car. What better way to help improve the environment, improve our roads and move to energy independence than to gradually, steadily raise the price of gasoline?

If we raised the federal tax on gasoline by one penny it would generate about $1,340,000,000 a year to use for the infrastructure. Raise it five cents over a few years and you have $6.7 billion. More important you have people seeking alternative fuels (yes, as they switch the revenue goes down). Large commercial vehicles are already making the transition to natural gas which means we will use even less oil.

How will Americans cope with this higher tax? Unlike other taxes, they can cope and mitigate the impact by changing their habits. In the process multiple goals can be achieved for the Country.

Hey, it’s a strategy, a plan, a recognition of the need to fundamentally change behavior unlike giving a $7,500 tax credit to buy a semi-electric car only affordable by higher income Americans.

If you don’t think this kind of strategy works, go to Europe and see the cars they drive and how they use their rail systems.

And there is a bonus to all this, we can leave the Middle East to live in the 7th century or gouge the Chinese for oil. We may even be an oil exporter.

Footnote: as reported by National Review:

Would you trade eliminating your state’s gas tax for an increase of eight-tenths of a percentage point in the sales tax? That’s what Virginia governor Bob McDonnell is proposing. His spokesman, Tucker Martin, lays it out. The Governor will eliminate the gas tax and instead tie future transportation funding to Virginia’s sales and use tax, which will move from 5% to 5.8% with the new .8 dedicated completely to transportation. This will make Virginia the first state in the nation without a gas tax. Virginia will be a national leader.

Like I said, where is the energy plan? Oh I know, make gas less expensive so we care less and use more … just like health care.