This is such a good idea. The one downside is that it is politically difficult to pass these types of measures. However, if raising taxes on gasoline is part of a more comprehensive plan, then the negative effect to those less able to take the price increase could be minimized. Personally, I am going to write a letter recommending this idea to my senators and to those in my state govt. They will be more likely to do it when they know they have support. Perhaps this is something we all should do?

I think this is a great idea, but I'd like to see it higher. Start at 3$, with plans for a slow rise up to 5$ in about 5 years. That will give people more time to adapt to the necessary changes. This sort of thing affects some far more than others. For rural blue-collar workers who commute upwards of 50 mi each way, for instance, carpooling or biking are simply not options. They would need to move, change jobs, or at the very least, buy a new car. That new car will be a lot more difficult to get when there's suddenly no buyers for the truck they're trading in.

I think that gas prices need to go down to a 1$ again because i drive alot and i have a dirt bike that is just burning a hole in my pocket. people who live an welfare spend all there money on gas and they have no money for clothes and shoes.

1) If you'll recall, the 90s also saw a surge and peak of anti-smoking advertisements and legal action. The "taxes kept preganant women from smoking argument" doesn't hold water.

2) Stop subsidizing gas prices and let the market do its work. Taxes aren't the problem; our gas prices are and always have been artificially low compared to the rest of the world's.

3) Finally, why is it OK for government to "modify behavior" in ways amenable to treehuggers, but not OK for government to "modify behavior" in ways treehuggers disagree with? I'm amazed at how casually Terry, for instance, supports the use of the tax-cudgel to force masses of people to move, change jobs, and put them in the impossible position of needed to buy a new car when there's no market for their old car.

Way to empower The State, people!

(and, I might add, way for me to proofread...)

Ian, I took a brief look at the study on pregnant women and smoking. The authors didn't just rate pregnant smokers over time, but compared a vast range of demographic groups with and without a 55-cent tax. Among their conclusions: "white women, older women, and highly educated women are most responsive to changes in cigarette taxes." But they add that "nearly all subgroups of pregnant women have higher smoking participation price elasticities than the general population."

I don't quite agree that taxes are the way to go.. it is true that there has been a huge anti-smoking campaign raging throughout the nineties up to present, which I suspect had a larger impact on pregnant women smoking less than higher taxes do. In my experience, addicts - including tobacco addicts - generally don't stop abusing their substance of choice for financial reasons but for health or social reasons - and that goes for individuals across all cultural and economic backgrounds. As for pregnant women and smoking, maybe the incredibly dirty looks and comments people make to pregnant women when they're seen smoking these days has more to do with it than taxation does. In the sixties and seventies, and for most of the eighties, it was socially acceptable to smoke while you were pregnant. Then a whole bunch of medical studies popped up pointing to complications caused by cigarette smoking, especially for pregnant women, and then suddenly it became unacceptable for pregnant women to smoke and they were ostracized for it.

It has stopped being socially "cool" to smoke.

And the same thing goes for gas consumption. Nowadays, in my city at least, when I see a hummer driving down the street, I can feel the looks and hear comments of disgust coming from people watching that big monster rolling down the asphalt, chomping up a good share of gas and puking out pollution.. ten years ago, that same hummer would have impressed people as it drove down the street. It's not the same anymore, people are losing respect for mindless mass consumption.

As for taxes at all.. until someone has actually seen a full set of books from their government, and has audited them thoroughly and ethically, which is darn well near impossible considering the immense - and without a doubt, fraudulent - paper trail in question, then personally I'm not so willing to pay more taxes on top of taxes on top of the taxes I'm paying already. Show me the REAL bottom line first, and then me and the Man can sit down face to face like real people, and talk about how much (tax) I owe to my government. As an accountant myself, I highly suspect I owe them anything at all, all things considered. Besides, taxes are band-aid solutions.

I'm more in favour of education.. Teach people to respect themselves and others instead of getting them to pay taxes to deter them from negative social behaviour. There are many who believe that taxation in and of itself is a negative behaviour. Myself.. I prefer to sit on the fence.