The Extra Mile

Pietro S. Nivola; Robert W. Crandall

doi:10.5771/9780815720379

Summary

In the United States, proposals for gasoline tax hikes have consistently met with broad-based congressional opposition. Although such taxes are a common and effective method of conserving energy in other industrialized nations, U.S. policy has traditionally relied on regulatory programs rather than fuel taxes to promote energy efficiency in automotive transportation. This book examines both the political causes and the economic effects of this idiosyncratic policy preference.

Moderating the consumption and importation of oil has been an explicit goal of the United States over the past twenty years. Pietro S. Nivola and Robert W. Crandall argue that a higher levy on gasoline would be a more efficient way of achieving this goal than current automotive fuel economy standards. In fact, they find that an additional excise of less than twenty-five cents per gallon over the past dozen years would have conserved more oil than has the existing policy of administering gas mileage requirements for new passenger vehicles. And such a tax, they maintain, would not be as detrimental to the economy as opponents fear, nor as regressive as they claim.

Why, then, is there such a strong national resistance to a fuel tax in the United States? And why is there less resistance in other countries? The authors examine the development of motor-fuel excises in Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Canada, and explain the historical and political factors that have led to different national policy orientations.

Turning their attention back to the United States, Nivola and Crandall show how regulatory measures have fallen short of their goal and why political barriers to bolder taxation of gasoline remain formidable. They conclude by offering suggestions for new directions in U.S. energy policy at the federal, state, and local level.

Search publication

Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2010
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-6091-7
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-2037-9
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 180
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
1. Concerns No access
2. The Demand Response No access
3. Economic Effects No access
4. Distributional Issues No access
5. Conclusion No access
1. Background No access
2. The Case for CAFE No access
3. Why CAFE Falters No access
4. Existing Research No access
5. The Mechanics of Fuel Conservation No access
6. The Effects on Vehicle Safety No access
7. Conclusion No access
1. The Price Elasticity of Demand for Motor Fuel No access
2. The Adjustment to Changing Fuel Prices No access
3. Substituting a Fuel Tax No access
4. Is a Higher Gas Tax Fair? No access
5. Economic Costs No access
6. Conclusion No access
1. Some Hypotheses about Energy Taxes No access
2. Petrol Taxation in Britain and France No access
3. Variations Elsewhere No access
4. Summary No access
1. History No access
2. Party Politics No access
3. The Budget System No access
4. Community Control No access
5. Summary No access
1. Recapping the Complications No access
2. New Politics? No access
3. Some Suggestions No access
4. Toward Policy Coordination No access
1. A. Econometric Analysis of the CAFE Program No access
2. B. The Effects of a Fuel Tax: Empirical Methodology and Results No access
Notes No access Pages 141 - 174
1. A No access
2. B No access
3. C No access
4. D No access
5. E No access
6. F No access
7. G No access
8. H No access
9. I No access
10. J No access
11. K No access
12. L No access
13. M No access
14. N No access
15. O No access
16. P No access
17. Q No access
18. R No access
19. S No access
20. T No access
21. U No access
22. V No access
23. W No access