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Krauthammer Proposes a Gas Tax
Ace of Spades HQ —
Krauthammer Proposes a Gas Tax Charles Krauthammer has the cover article in the upcoming Weekly Standard . He suggests that the extreme oil price collapse presents a "once in a generation" chance to impose a gas tax. Here is how it works. The simultaneous enactment of two measures: A $1 increase in the federal gasoline tax--together with an immediate $14 a week reduction of the FICA tax. Indeed, that reduction in payroll tax should go into effect the preceding week, so that the upside of the swap (the cash from the payroll tax rebate) is in hand even before the downside (the ...
I’m not the only one...
QandO —
Apparently, as I spent the last few days crafting my posts about an alternative set of policies for the GOP to propose to America, I was not alone in proposing a tax shift toward consumption/carbon. The New York Times has an editorial up about raising the gas tax considerably with offsetting "tax credits to protect vulnerable segments of the population," and Charles Krauthammer at the Weekly Standard has a new article saying we should pass a substantial gasoline tax with a revenue-neutral cut in the payroll tax. I like my version better.
The Net-Zero Carbon Tax
Weekly Standard Blog —
Rep. Bob Inglis and tax cut guru Arthur Laffer must be reading the Standard -- their call for a carbon tax offset by reductions "in income or payroll taxes" dovetails nicely with our cover story this week. It's an idea worth considering, especially if the offset is a reduction in the regressive and burdensome payroll tax.
Two points. First, Krauthammer, Inglis, and Laffer advocate exactly the sort of taxation economists say is the most optimal. They want to decrease taxation on goods our society ought to favor, like work, and increase taxation on goods our society doesn't like, namely, carbon. Say the revenue from the new consumption tax ...
Taxing Energy
The Corner on National Review Online —
Monday, December 29, 2008 [image] Taxing Energy [Ramesh Ponnuru] Charles Krauthammer wants a higher gas tax combined with the end of fuel-economy standards and a reduction in the payroll tax. ...
For A Gas Tax
Swampland —
... Charles Krauthammer has an absolutely compelling, and completely unexpected, argument for a gasoline tax in the Weekly Standard. He proposes a $1 per gallon tax that would be revenue neutral, 100% redistributed into payroll taxes and social security checks. This is not a new idea. (I wrote a column proposing a gas tax-payroll tax swap a few years ago; others came well before me.) And Krauthammer is, not surprisingly, more sympathetic to the national security arguments for higher gasoline prices than the environmental ones--Krauthammer remains unconvinced that global warming is ...
Win-Win
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
Krauthammer proposes a gas tax, balanced by a payroll tax reduction. Joe Klein applauds: Krauthammer is, not surprisingly, more sympathetic to the national security arguments for higher gasoline prices than the environmental ones--Krauthammer remains unconvinced that global warming is man-made. But it is fascinating to see this proposal on the cover of Bill Kristol's magazine. (And yes, one might argue ulterior motives--let a Democrat self-immolate by imposing a gas tax...one wonders where Krauthammer was on this issue the past eight years?) ...
links for 2009-01-06
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog —
... (tags: charles_krauthammer joe_klein gas_tax)
The Net-Zero Gas Tax - What has Charles Krauthammer Been Smoking?
Americans have a deep and understandable aversion to gasoline taxes. In a culture more single-mindedly devoted to ...
Gas Taxes as Warfare By Other Means
Hit & Run —
... to recent right-wing calls for a "revenue neutral" gasoline tax hike, to be offset by Social Security tax cuts. Advocate Charles Krauthammer paints it as, among other things, a great national security move, as it would supposedly starve such nasty nations as Venezuela and Russia of gas money by pushing Americans to adopt more fuel efficient vehicles. ...
Fair and balanced schmoozing
Betsy's Page —
... Post's Gene Robinson, the Boston Globe's Derrick Z. Jackson, the one and only Maureen Dowd, the New York Times's Frank Rich, the Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib, Atlantic political director Ron Brownstein, USA Today's DeWayne Wickham and columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. What struck me with the conservatives' dinner is that you could imagine Obama hearing interesting policy proposals from that crowd. I'd particularly like him to give some consideration to Charles Krauthammer's innovative "net zero gas tax" that proposes raising federal taxes on gas and balancing it with an equal ...
