Frank Lee,
I see several problems with that article:
Unless the added revenue from the "gas tax" is balanced by less taxes on other things, the money will just go into that big hole of waste and corruption in DC.
See bridge to nowhere for a small example:
The less well off are the ones with less fuel efficient cars. They also live in areas further from work and have no mass transit options. They are the ones to suffer most from a tax on gas.
There is no need for a punishment strategy for the USA to be free of foreign oil. We could easily import ethanol from Brazil, (made from sugar cane), if not for the tarrif on foreign ethanol. Govt. could help (gasp) by mandating that all new cars be flex fuel. That would make flex fuel a world standard, and all of a sudden new cars could burn ethanol, methanol, butanol, etc. or gasoline in any ratio.
Now oil based gasoline would have to compete with alcohol, and oil producing states would no longer have us over the oil barrel. Gas prices would have to go down as a result, so those with older cars would benefit. Biomass based alcohol would be carbon neutral as well.
More info on this idea:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...ZmOWZlMjgzZTg=
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...EyZmU2MTI5YTQ=
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...jBmZmI=&w=Mg==