We talk of independence from foreign oil, of doing something about traffic congestion and global warming, and of the loss of green spaces, but still we buy SUVs and, increasingly, choose to drive alone. After all of the moral posturing is done, our behavior, our habits, are dictated by our instinctive pursuit of a better deal. Gas prices are low—lower, in relative terms, than they were in the gas-guzzling early ’70s. So why not drive? Compared with most other industrialized nations, where gasoline sells from $4 to $6 per gallon, there is very little incentive for austerity in the U.S. We continue to increase our consumption of fossil fuels despite the fact that oil reserves worldwide have been decreasing for the last 30 years. New oil discoveries are now running at 25 percent of consumption (http://healthandenergy.com/gasoline_prices.htm). We expect Amtrak to pay for itself, but we are driving our cars on borrowed time.

A substantial tax on gas, with revenues directed toward alternative forms of transportation and alternative energy sources, would be a step in the right direction. For most people, an additional dollar per gallon would not change their commuting habits or vacation plans. Would you stop driving? Gasoline (I’m not talking about natural gas) costs rank low on our list of monthly expenses. But a dollar per gallon, summed over the whole state of New York for a year, could work wonders. I invite you to do the math. New York consumes about 15.4 million gallons of gasoline per day (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/state/ny.asp). With a dollar per gallon tax, that’s $5.62 billion per year in new revenues. And still we would pay only half of what the British pay for gas.

A few weeks ago the Times-Union headline read “Budget deep in the red.” Up to a $3 billion shortfall. How easily we could absorb that.

Chris Bystroff