Chris, I have no problem with the existence of big cars, SUVs, etc. I just think the gas tax has been artificially low for decades. Conceptually, the gas tax really ought to be high enough to cover all government costs that are caused by the use of gasoline-powered vehicles. In other words, all (or virtually all) road construction, repair and maintenance; all traffic enforcement and auto inspection costs; some pollution abatement costs, etc.

Yes, I realize that increasing the gas tax will have a greater impact on people in states with more elbow room than it will on me in New Jersey. But if the gas tax has been inappropriately low, as I contend, it means that people who drive less have effectively been subsidizing people who drive more.

The impact of the transition to higher gas taxes could be mitigated somewhat by a partial credits for miles driven in commuting to work, for example. But the whole point of a gas tax is to give people an incentive to drive less, and to choose more fuel-efficient vehicles. Unlike the Rube Goldberg CAFE standards, a gas tax would actually work.

Seriously, I am on the other side and I actually like your idea.

Instead, America lets anybody – ANYBODY – have a driver’s license, while lobbyists from the AARP and illegal alien groups make sure their clients’ “right” to endanger the lives of others does not get infringed, and the only solution American politicians can find is to create more laws and stiffen penalties.

I think perhaps you are insulated, living in New Jersey. You drive to the train station and ride to work. When I worked in downtown Nashville, I drove my 1963 Corvair to the neighborhood bus station and rode to work. But for the past four years, I haven’t worked downtown, and there are NO public transportation alternatives between home and work for me. So I drive my 16′ long, 4,000-lb. Jaguar sedan everday, getting an average 18.3 MPG (I could drive the Miata, but the racing suspension makes for a miserable commute). Of course, when the weather allows, I commute on my Yamaha motorcycle, getting 50 MPG and big grins in the process. But even Nashville has winters. And if I could take the bus or train to work, I would, if for no other reason than to avoid dealing with the lowest common denominator of driving skill using the roads.

Outside of New York, Boston and Chicago, most Americans have to drive to work. And to the store. And take the kids to soccer/basketball/football/hockey/baseball/lacrosse practice. And to church. And then there’s vacations.

It’s no different in Canada, Mexico, or any European country. The big-city-dwellers get to enjoy a wealth of public transportation options. Those in surburban or rural areas live just like their American counterparts: By the car. We usually don’t see it, because tv shows and news coverage are centered on urbanites, just as they are here. And when we Americans travel to Europe, it’s typically on business, in the cities. Think of Europeans or Asians watching Friends and traveling to New York on business. They think all of America is like Manhattan and can’t understand our car fixation.

As for the size of cars, we simply have more room here. Our roads are wider, our buildings are further apart., etc. Plus, we (okay, those of us outside of Jersey) spend more of our time commuting on interstates than Europeans, so we have higher federal standards for crash-worthiness. You want to know why we don’t have “kei-class” cars like Honda’s brilliant City and Today? Thank Ralph Nader and the NHTSA.

If you visit rural England, they drive Range Rovers too.

Yes, some of the countries supplying us oil hate us. Some of them would collapse without us (Hugo Chavez, are you listening?). But our two biggest suppliers are Canada and Mexico. The former makes fun of us, and the latter sponges off us. But I think we would miss them.

And as Mankiw states in his Manifesto:

“A basic principle of tax analysis — taught in most freshman economics courses — is that the burden of a tax is shared by consumer and producer. In this case, as a higher gas tax discouraged oil consumption, the price of oil would fall in world markets. As a result, the price of gas to consumers would rise by less than the increase in the tax. Some of the tax would in effect be paid by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.”