With gas prices at record levels and no end in sight, a common ply from consumers is often to lower gas taxes.  While this would temporarily ease prices some, I think it would be a terrible move. 

If anything, I think we should actually have higher gas taxes.  While this suggestion would never fly with the prices we have now, we should have been considering it long before.  We would be in a lot better position than we are now. 

The problem is that we were so used to cheap oil that we pretty much assumed we had a right to gasoline under $2.00 in America.  That assumption still runs rampant today, with people calling for the heads of politicians and big oil CEOs.  I don’t think these misguided attempts are going to do any good; cheap oil is most likely gone for good.  That said, we should have been preparing for this long ago.

We use taxes in this country to discourage behaviors such as smoking while profiting off of those consume the product anyway.  Why don’t we do the same with gasoline?  We could have prevented millions of Americans from getting too comfy with their behemoth vehicles and wasteful driving habits by simply making it more expensive to drive.  Plus, we could have prepared our entire economy for higher fuel costs gradually, making the transition much more pleasant. 

While Europe’s gas taxes may seem a bit steep to us, we should have followed their lead to some extent.  A British commenter of a recent TreeHugger article further strengthens the argument.  They recently paid the equivalent of $8.60 a gallon for gas, and they pointed out that the average motor size in the UK is between 1-2 liters.  It’s not hard to see the connection.  They can’t afford to drive 6.0 V8’s.  And you know what?  They realize they don’t need them.  Neither do most of us.

Higher gas taxes all along could have done wonders for the future of our transportation.  We could have funded new vehicle technology, alternative fuels, mass-transit systems, all while lowering our dependence on oil.  As it stands though, we are in for a much rougher adjustment to a post-cheap oil world.  What do you think?