Europe has high taxes on most of their goods and services to fund their socail programs. I can see that happening here too eventually - and that opinion is independent of the coming elections. It's just the direction I see us going with ever more gov't involvement in our lives for better or worse.

Italy has universal healthcare paid for with (among other things) gasoline taxes. I think their gasoline is about $8.50 a gallon right now.

Their medical system works but is very austere compared to what most people have in the USA with private insurance.

I am concerned about the liberal's big push towards universal healthcare here in the USA funded by taxes (what else could it be).

UHC is the right thing to do for those who can't provide for themselves but rather than looking at it as a "free" right of all of our citizens and a cut and dried yes/no answer there are many facets to consider.

First in my mind are the moochers in our society that want all the handouts they can get and seldom have alot of personal motivation to better themselves or pay their way in life.

These people are everywhere. I pay taxes and they spend them. UHC would simply meant hat there would be another way for those people to ride on my coat tails. No thanks America.

The other concern is where would we come up with the money for this? A first glance I envision big military OR UHC. Not both. I can't see the economics that says we can afford both. Both are important.

Anyhow - this is a long discussion perhaps best sutied for another forum but I do see gasoline taxes evetually rising as more programs like UHC come into existence.

Our road taxes might be gathered from fuel sales and spent on the roads while taxes collected from other sources that were perviously spent on our transportation infrastructure might then be spent on the UHC.

Whatever the case more programs = more taxes. More funding = more waste. More programs = more moochers. Eventually it will change America into a large country with tightly packed urban areas b/c people will have trouble driving into town from 80 miles away where they live in the country (suburb).

Frankly I would like to see a smaller gov't which encouraged people to be more self-reliant and more carefulw ith how they spend their money and consumer their energy. Gardens, smaller cars, sustainable choices, less consumption of the junk that people quickly lose interest in and add to the land fill.

And those reasons are why I like this website. It offers a quick peek into some of the options available to us right now.

Isn't netherlands not the highest though? I thought britian is paying the most at $12/gallon ($3/litre)

fritz, you are right on. and like you said there is so much more to say. the democrats say better health care for less money. it is impossible to do so. it is a vicious cycle but if we, for the sake of argument, pay the same amount and insure everyone, 2 things will happen. the will be a shortage of healthcare because the moochers fritz spoke of will flood the hospitals for illigitimate stuff because they'll have nothing better to do with their time, and because they are trying to score drugs. the healthcare professionals, especially the physicians are going to make less for more work. that will inturn result in a decreasing interest working in the field. think about it. you are in high school. you just graduated from high school with straight a's and valedvictorian of your class and you got a 1500+ on your s.a.t. your father is a doctor and you see the problems that have risen in the last decade. half the pay, twice the work and liability. are you applying for medical school. no the "b" student will be doing your loved one's next heart surgery.
that in addition to the gas taxes going through the roof. i can't take it anymore. i am going into debt farther and farther, and i don't see an end. you want to avoid this, because it is inevitable, unless people start standing up for themselves. check out RON PAUL 2008 . COM. he is the only forthcoming politician i have ever noticed. his views don't change from one state's primary to the next. and when he is asked a question, he answers it. he might not have a good chance to win. but if everyone i've talked says, i like him but he doesn't stand a chance, so i am voting for this person, then yes he no chance of winning. me i'd rather say i didn't vote for that idiot just to 'win'. what do you 'win'. i'd rather not vote at all than to have to admit to myself for the next four years that i was the reason for the downfall of what once was and can be again, the greatest country in the world. we haven't gotten that far behind. this can still be remedied.
please just check him out. RONPAUL2008.COM.
this message is not paid for by ron paul, but i hope he would approve of it though.

Moochers are everywhere in the world. It just comes down to what type of society do you want to live in? Social programs have been cut in half since 1973 and the govt still wants to cut more, such as social security to make themselves and their friends rich. Universal healthcare has been brought up since Kennedy. They will never pass it. There is no money in it for the govt, so why would they? With USA becoming a rich and poor society and with std of living dropping (now 5th according to CIA.GOV), its wise for america's youth to look around and move to other countries (that have strong safety nets for their citizens)

I think this bears linking again, because it is so mind-blowing.

Petrol consumption graphic from The Economist

I'd like to see Fritz pave his own roads, maintain his own sidewalks, maintain his own sewer system, pay for his own open-heart surgery, deliver his own trash to the dump, collect and deliver his own mail, and build and fly his own fighter plane to patrol the skies over Afghanistan. We're all moochers in some sense -- Libertarians are all head and no heart.

Fritz,

The US spends on average more money per person on healthcare than any other nation, yet has dozens of millions of uninsured and underinsured citizens.

The amount of money the US consumers pay through private insurance + taxes (for the unfunded / uninsured / elderly) is more than enough to insure every single person.

The fact of the matter is that the healthcare system is broken due to the for-profit health insurance industry. We pay close to $1000 per month out of pocket for our own policy with $5k deductible! The cost is insane.

The amount of administration and lawsuits is an absolute nightmare. It drives the cost through the roof.

If we cut out all the administrative cost of the thousands of insurance employees, buildings, etc. Eliminate pre-approval, denied visit etc and cap lawsuits ... healthcare will be cheaper. Cutting out administration and for-profit companies is the only way the cost of healthcare can come down and we can pay less for more and have UHC ... without denying people care like now. Many seriously ill people see their coverage canceled and are ruined financially. It doesn't have to be that way.

And guess what? While you and I and many others pay our premium, living in fear we might get sick; the majority of this town & state has free healthcare through the county & fed.

So why can't we all be part of that system? Less war & government porc will pay the healthcare bill just fine.

Joe, the article specified "as of 2005," when oil was a bargain by comparison to today.

@Joe

I think they're going off the flat gas price, rather than before or after government and state taxes. I wouldn't mind seeing another article comparing that considering it's really a more accurate assessment of what people actually fork out.

Italy is currently at about $8.30 a gallon (google: 1.40 euro per liter in dollars per gallon). On the autostrada, tolls tend to add about $0.10 per mile as well. Driving is NOT cheap, but the roads are still heavily used.

While the UK is, as of a visit to Scotland last September, closer to $7.50 (~1 pound per liter in dollars per gallon).

Most of Europe pays more than 1,5 EUR per litre, but one thing to concider is that US dollar is relatively weak compared to Euro right now, so when You convert the price to dollars per gallon you get a whopping 8 USD per gallon. But in relation to the income of EU citizens the fuel price is not that bad, and because it has been high for decades, recent increases are less noticeable.