An Instant Solution

Whether you believe that Americans are contributing to global warming or not, it’s hard to dispute the fact that our dependence on foreign oil threatens our economy and security. It’s time for Californians to stop preaching and whining and start taking action to reduce our use of gasoline. We can make a dramatic difference in less time than it takes to grow a crop of switchgrass.

Raising the state’s gasoline tax will have an instant impact. While this is a regressive tax that would unfairly impact lower income Californians, I would propose offsetting this increase with a tax reduction on California sales taxes.  With the goal of maintaining neutral revenues for the state, we could stimulate our local economy by effectively discounting consumption while motivating Californians to stay off the road and conserve our natural resources.

Here’s how it might work. According to our state’s energy board, on a per capita basis, Californians use 414 gallons of gasoline a year. The same statistic suggests that we spend about $840 in sales taxes each year. A 25% reduction in sales tax rate would save shoppers about $210 each. At the same time, we would increase gasoline taxes by 50 cents a gallon.

The state collects just as much revenue. Higher prices at the pump will help create an incentive for Californians to curb wasteful behavior and as a reward that big screen TV gets a little bit cheaper.

Government is typically slow to change, but as the planet’s pace of change accelerates, it’s time that Government take bold steps to help Californians to do the right thing.

July 13, 2007

© Greg Harris, 2007

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