Blast from the Past: 'Tax and Drill'

Periodically, Vox Verax posts articles from history — recent or otherwise — that in retrospect turned out to be unusually insightful, prescient or apropos of today's pressing issues. This "Blast from the Past" comes from conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. Had we followed Krauthammer's advice advocating a floor-based gas tax then, this country would not be at the mercy of OPEC and other oil producing nations today:

Tax and Drill

By Charles Krauthammer
washingtonpost.com

Friday, May 21, 2004

In the mid-1970s, the twilight of America's oil innocence, the average new American car was a monster weighing 4,000 pounds. The oil shocks induced belated rationality into American oil habits. By 1981 the average car was down to 3,202 pounds.

By the mid-'80s, rational consumer reaction to high prices -- home insulation, fuel-efficient appliances and lighter cars -- had actually solved the energy crisis. We had OPEC on the run. In July 1986 oil plunged to $7 a barrel.

It is now $41 a barrel. We had a golden moment, and we let it pass. The way to lock in our gains then would have been to artificially raise the price of gasoline with a tax that would depress consumption, maintain consumer demand for fuel efficiency and, most important, direct much of the pump price into the U.S. economy (via the U.S. Treasury) rather than having it shipped to Saudi Arabia, Russia and other sundry, less than friendly places.

Nothing, of course, was done. It was morning in America, and no politician ever got elected running on higher gasoline taxes. Americans got used to low oil prices again. Consumers once again acted rationally: The average car is now back up to 4,000 pounds.

Pump prices have once again soared. Surprise.

Read the rest is here.