My big fat American gas tax

It seems completely counterintuitive: Raise the gasoline tax to help American commuters.
Motorists are already paying well over $3 a gallon, and there are signs that it's beginning to cut into demand and hurt consumer spending.
But if a big gas tax was levied - like the $1 or $2 tax Europeans have to keep prices permanently over $3 or $4 a gallon - how could that possibly help American consumers?
One argument says a tax would crimp demand, lowering wholesale prices.
"Anybody with any brains has advocated that, but not the politicians." said Fadel Gheit, an energy analyst at the financial services company Oppenheimer.
Lower wholesale prices, which would mean less profits for oil firms, combined with a higher tax could transfer money from Big Oil to the government, which could then use the cash for public programs.
Consumers would have to pay the same amount - or even more than now - but at least that extra cash could be returned to them in some way.
It might be used as a tax credit to offset the sting for those with a lower income, countering one of the most common arguments against such a tax. It could also go towards improvements in mass transit, expanded student loans or lower health insurance premiums.
Lower gasoline consumption would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a growing concern in the face of global warming.
"We still don't pay very much in gas taxes," said Lee Schipper, research director at Embarq, the World Resources Institute's Center for Sustainable Transport.
While wholesale prices for gasoline are generally the same in Europe as they are in the U.S., Schipper noted the $5, $6 or $7 a gallon Europeans pay, thanks to the high tax.
Americans, by contrast, pay a federal tax of about 18 cents a gallon. State taxes vary but are generally lower than 40 cents a gallon.
"As long as the marginal cost of driving is so low, the big changes aren't going to happen," said Schipper, who supports both a larger U.S. gas tax and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
By big changes, he means driving attitudes that more closely resemble Europe's, where he said there are 30 percent fewer cars per person, 30 percent fewer miles traveled per car and cars that use 30 percent less fuel.