They're way ahead of you. But mass transportation is the future; soon every metropolitan area will be integrated like the NE Corridor.
I'm guessing, however, that the typical Brit drives many fewer miles than the typical American. The U.S. is far from geographically compact, and the U.S. very much has a suburban culture that encourages extremely long commutes. 10$/gallon gas would simply devastate the U.S. economy absent vast improvements in mass transit infrastructure and changes in zoning laws that made urban housing more affordable.
Here's an idea: why don't we jack gas taxes so high that nobody can afford to drive anymore. Of course, if nobody drives, there won't be any tax money coming in, and no way to repair the roads. But we won't need to repair the roads, because nobody will be using them anyway. Problem solved. Damn, I'm a fuckin' liberal genius!
Well speaking from experience on this type of bs I can say this. In CA, a state that is controlled by leftist leaning big government lovers the increased taxes will not satisfy the state. In CA, we pay some of the highest taxes in the state on gasoline. Now that gasoline is so high and the state literally does not know how to manage money they are bitching and moaning that people in CA are not driving as much. Why are they bitching about that? For one simple reason with the high taxes, high costs for fuel and etc., less people are driving and thus there are less revenues being generated from the gasoline tax. What is the CA legislature's solution for this? Let's raise taxes on the gasoline again. The government can't afford to have us driving less. It impacts revenues negatively.
Too bad the Cali government is too stupid to realize that lower taxes would increase sales of gas which would increase tax revenue. You raise taxes higher and higher and people will stop buying. So its just common sense that the amount of tax money will drop because less people are buying. Lower the taxes and people will buy more increasing tax revenue. Stupid government.
Agreed. But, CA is also dealing with conflicting views. They want to increase revenues so that they can continue to spend like they do now. But, they also want to pretend that they are being environmentally conscious. It is funny because the state has seen revenue increases consistently over the past few years. 15-20% increases consistently yet they have increased spending double those numbers and they can't figure out why they can't balance the states budget. Than we get people like Don Parada a man who is thankfully going to terming out at the end of this year saying that state doesn't have a spending problem, it has a revenue problem. Of course that is when he talks about increasing gasoline taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, business taxes, income taxes, vehicle taxes and etc.
You're sort-of explaining the Laffer Curve there. Which does actually work, unless you get a legislature full of Democrats who enable entitlement spending to explode.
I could support such a tax if: -It were phased in gradually -The money was used to build and maintain a viable mass transit system
If you want to call yourself a liberal genius you've got to be able to come up with some way to justify rewarding yourself. AlGore and his jet would be ashamed of you.
Why not just cut all the pork from the budget and use it to fund this 'apollo' type program? That should account for a few billion, right?
Well, with nobody driving, more people will be forced to fly, which will require me to burn even more jet fuel (for less economy) than I do now. So in true liberal fashion, my solution not only fucks over almost everybody, it winds up being even worse for the environment in the long run. See? Pure genius!!
