I disagree. Simply put, a gas tax helps us stay ahead of the game and provides a cushion for society to use the money collected to offset the negative effects.

Alternately, if we were to remove all the current subsidies to oil and gas, that would be an even better first step.

I agree, a gas tax now is probably too little, too late.

Hitting the average Escalade driver in the well-padded wallet with an extra buck (or two, or three) will have little effect on their consumption

A real supply shortage* -- with gas lines, ten gallon limits and odd-even fill-up rules -- will hurt them where it really, really, hurts, in the pocket watch.

A month of waiting in a gas lines is a great inducement to consumption adjustment.

I wonder how long it will be before the "Will wait in gas lines for food" signs appear.

*Say if Saudi Arabia or Iran decide to apply pressure to force an Israeli cease fire by cutting oil exports.

Hm, I don't really think so. In US gasoline is still a relatively minor item in the total cost of owning a car - far behind the initial cost, and in most cases quite behind maintainance&insurance.

The rationale behind higher gas tax would be primarily to cover the externalities associated with oil consumption -  military expenses, pollution, traffic, suburban sprawl and associated waste of resources for land, roads etc. Secondary we have high level of uncertanty within the oil market about the true state of reserves and prospective production which makes the market quite inefficient in pricing in future scarcity.

In all cases gas tax will buy us time for the mitigation response and will make it smoother. Maybe it is true that politically it is too late to impose it, but this is a different problem.

A gas tax is needed which is engineered to ensure that regardless of the underlying cost of crude, the price to the consumer will steadily increase.  This would provide the predictability required to spur investment in alternatives, and a permanent change in attitudes to consumption.  Revenue raised can be used to mitigate the effects of rising prices on vurnable sections of the community.

How to make it politically acceptable - that is the real challenge.

A better way to frame the debate would be to relentlessly pursue the huge disproportion between government support for fossil fuel industries vs. alternative energy industries. Have you seen the chart of newly installed wind power capacity in the US (somewhere at awea.org)? It looks like a roller-coaster because there is a tax credit for wind power which has to be renewed by Congress every 2 years. Consequently, no-one installs new capacity in the "renewal years" since they don't know if they'll get the tax credit. That's insane! The tax credit should be extended to at least 5 years so that the environment becomes a bit stable - the Spanish model of a minimum rate at which utilities must buy renewable power might also work. It sure does work for Spain.

In short, the general public is starting to realize that renewables will be crucial in energy independence. This realization can and should be leveraged to adress the imbalances in government support for various energy industries. Shifting support from Big Oil to renewables can be presented as a revenue-neutral and labor-market-neutral policy that is very hard to refute. Another angle is that it's a fitting "punishment" for Big Oil's "excess profits".

Do you have anything like the UK Annual 'road fund licence'? Basically a tax on the vehicle itself.

This could be linked to engine capacity / mpg / carbon emissions. The bigger the engine etc , the higher the tax.

This has started to happen in the UK , but with minimal effect yet as the difference is not that great in tax rates and if you can afford a large 4wd, you can afford the tax difference.

One side effect however is that it bites impoverished hill farmers who need land rovers more than it bites a 'Chelsea Tractor' driver.

I can talk from my experience here in Argentina (and I know that's like comparing pigs to bicycles).

Gas has always had an important tax here, in fact every fossil fuel.

Today, %60 of what you pay for filling up your tank is gas tax. I think this follows the general pattern in Europe.

We  "achieved energy independence"  more than 15 years ago and today Argentina is a mild oil exporter and our cars are small just like the Europeans.
That's a different pattern of what you could see in México or Venezuela (comparing apples to apples this time) where, as far as I know, gas taxes are not so high and cars are bigger and not so efficient.

Of course, timing issues regarding the USA case can not be ignored.

Regarding the "efficiency and rationality" of markets, the idea of having your A/C on while you're not at home, driving thousands of miles each month to get to your work, using SUVs to get to the grocery store around the corner, are IMHO very wasteful behaviors. This has been known for years in Europe, where energy taxes have played an important role.

Best

Fernando