Should governments cut fuel taxes?

Die Preise an den Zapfsäulen gehen steil nach oben. Wären niedrigere Benzinsteuern die richtige oder die ganz falsche Antwort? Talitha Linehan hat zwei gegensätzliche Meinungen eingeholt.

YES!

David L. Crawford is president of the US company Econsult Corporation, which provides the government and firms with economic and statistical analysis. He is also an adjunct professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

David L. Crawford

Gas is only one part of the cost of driving. For years, people haven’t had to pay for the extra costs, which include the cost of driving on roads and the effect on the environment. They still aren’t paying enough. That’s why the fuel tax needs to be increased, not cut. People started paying the federal fuel tax in the 1950s. If the tax had risen with inflation, they would be paying a tax of 38 cents per gallon today. Instead, they are paying only 18 cents. If the cost of gas had increased by $1 (about €0.63) a gallon ten years ago, people would have started buying fuel-efficient cars years ago, and started reducing their driving time.

Economists know that, whenever an activity has an artificially low price, there is too much of that activity. That’s what’s happened with driving in the US. The artificially low gas price has encouraged people to make driving a big part of their lives. They’ve bought big cars that use a lot of gas and lived far from their work. Now they think they have no choice but to drive a lot. But we are where we are today as a result of bad decisions.

Driving has for years had negative consequences, especially with regard to the environment. Scientists say that it’s too late to stop all the effects of global warming. But that doesn’t mean we are doomed. If we change the way we live now, we can stop the worst effects. There will be some hardship as fuel costs continue to rise. People will have to make changes. They’ll start using public transport, carpooling, buying more fuel-efficient cars, and changing where they live and work. They’ll also ask their politicians to give them more alternatives to driving. And scientists will start looking into alternative forms of energy. Some of these changes have started happening already, and that’s a good thing.

There is no way to fight the rising cost of fuel. These changes will have to happen. The way in which they happen depends largely on who becomes the next US president in November. I was very happy that Barack Obama came out against stopping the fuel tax. He said it didn’t make any sense, and he is right.