By Jeffrey Harris
We Rabbits are fortunate to be able to use biodiesel. Most people in the US don't
have this option, because they already have gasoline-burning cars, or because
they don't have a ready source of biodiesel. For all you folks who do end up
driving fossil fuel powered cars- but recognize the ecological costs of doing
so- consider participating in the Voluntary Gas Tax.
The Voluntary Gas Tax (VGT)
brings together people who wish the market did a better job of including the real
costs of driving. It helps them be a part of developing positive alternatives to
driving inefficient cars. VGT calls the program a tax to support the idea that
governments can and should tax gas higher than it currently does. The chain of
logic for taxing gas higher goes like this: first, we start by assuming that
taxes should maximize the public good, while striving to treat everyone
equitably. If you don't agree that these are proper goals for taxation, then VGT
is probably not for you.
For those of you who do buy this motivation for taxes,
consider the theory of markets. The idea that markets lead to efficient
allocation of resources is based on the assumption that prices include all
relevant costs. VGT participants believe that non-renewable energy has major
externalized costs that lead the public to believe energy is far cheaper than it
really is. While there are many societal costs that can conceivably be associated
with gasoline consumption (military spending and geopolitical destabilization
come quickly to mind), the Voluntary Gas Tax focuses on climate change.
If you
believe that greatly increased carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is
likely to change global climate significantly faster than climate change would
otherwise happen, then it makes sense to worry about carbon dioxide emissions. If
you believe significant climate change is likely to have major societal costs
that are not equitably distributed to those who caused the climate change, then
carbon dioxide emissions seem like a fair candidate for taxation, if the revenues
are used to fund carbon mitigation and more efficient alternatives in the short
term, and to provide assistance to dislocated people in the long term.
Not everyone believes every step in this argument. Certainly there's lots of
uncertainty within the scientific community about climate. However, there's
always uncertainty when making decisions about the environment and large groups
of people, because ecology and societies are extremely complex systems. We have
to make our best educated guesses, while we try to get more information.
So, on to brass tacks: here's how VGT works. Participants give VGT their vehicle model
and their odometer reading. At the end of every year, they fill out a form,
telling VGT their current odometer reading, and they're billed for the estimated
number of gallons of gas they used that year. Then they vote on what the next
year's tax rate should be, and what non-profits should receive that year's tax
revenues. All tax payments are tax deductible, and 100% of donations are
distributed to non-profits working on carbon abatement and supporting
alternatives to driving.
In 2001, VGT's first year, $860 in taxes were collected,
which is a great start. If you believe it makes sense to pay more for driving
than you currently do, and you'd like to help make a statement about gas taxes,
check out www.gastax.org!
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