Krauthammer for President

Charles has it just right. While I don't agree with increasing gas taxes, in this case it would be revenue-neutral to the taxpayer...what you paid in increased gas taxes you'd get back as a tax-credit on your income taxes. Sweet and crude at the same time. From NRO:

Well, if you do the math, it is a seven-year plan. Stalin restricted himself to five-year plans.

It's quite ambitious, and it's the most inefficient way of curtailing gasoline consumption, which we ought to do for a host of reasons, including national security. We want to reduce the amount of oil imported.

But instead of having it in mandates from Washington, arbitrary numbers picked out of a hat, what you do is you impose a gasoline tax and you refund it immediately [as] a reduction in the payroll tax, so Washington keeps not a penny of it.

And the beauty of that is when you had the gas at $4, we had a change in consumer habits and the buying of smaller, efficient cars. What you do is you recreate that with a gas tax, except that instead of all the money ending up in Saudi Arabia and in the pockets of Hugo Chavez, it ends up in the pockets of the American consumer.

And that's what we ought to do instead, but nobody has the political courage to propose that.

I'm in for this. I sure as hell want the freedom to buy another Suburban whenever I want it.

H/T NRO