Representative John Anderson has proposed that the Federal Government impose a tax of 50¢ a gallon on gasoline at the pump. The idea is to force the general public to conserve petroleum by use of the price system.
Such a tax would be labeled “sumptuary” in the old-style economics textbooks, because the advertised intent is to reduce consumption of gasoline. Since gasoline faces a market demand not much affected by price changes, the tax also would generate significant amounts of government revenue. Anderson would use this revenue to reduce Social Security taxes. Others who favor stiff taxes on petro products, whether by an excise tax per gallon or by an excise tax on “windfall profits,” would use the revenues to develop synthetic fuels and to subsidize windmills, solar collectors, and bicycle paths. A rather shocking commentary on this new regulatory proposal is that some true-blue conservatives also support the plan, among them William F. Buckley Jr.
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