Now is the time for introducing and raising the gas tax level!

Gas prices have fallen by nearly 50% since their June/July peak states facing deficits.

Now is the time to introduce much higher gas taxes -- at the national, state, and local level.

In the long run, it will save the environment. In the short run, it will avoid stupid taxes on production, just when unemployment is racheting up. Do as Al Gore says.

Drought West

Another reason to move agriculture to the East and kill agriculture subsidies. And to fight global warming.

Fural to be green VI: Frugal tax policy

If the shortest path in the kitchen to being green is being frugal, what is the obvious green tax policy? Consumption tax! Why Not Shift the Burden to Big Spenders? doesn't cover the environmental implications but is good background.

However, Kitchen Linker has concerns with the way this proposed tax is cooked. It requires reporting of income and savings: new frontiers in zero privacy.

Far better to concentrate consumption taxation on carbon, which has no privacy concerns and very directly attacks the number one global environmental concern (global warming, of course).

Irrigate the East

Move agriculture from the massively irrigated and dried out West and Let the East Bloom Again. Kitchen Linker says this could be the most important environmental idea in the USA (the carbon tax is a global idea), via The American Scene.

Q.E.D.

Powerful editorial in the New York Times from the Pigoufather:

Among policy wonks like me, there is a broad consensus. The scientists tell us that world temperatures are rising because humans are emitting carbon into the atmosphere. Basic economics tells us that when you tax something, you normally get less of it. So if we want to reduce global emissions of carbon, we need a global carbon tax. Q.E.D.

Be freegan to be green?

Not Buying It in the NYT:

[T]he freegan movement has become much more visible and increasingly popular over the past year, in part as a result of growing frustrations with mainstream environmentalism.

Environmentalism, Mr. Torres said, “is becoming this issue of, consume the right set of green goods and you’re green,” regardless of how much in the way of natural resources those goods require to manufacture and distribute.

“If you ask the average person what can you do to reduce global warming, they’d say buy a Prius,” he added.

Kitchen Linker isn't a freegan, but has some sympathies. Freeganism is the extreme of be frugal to be green.

Congestion pricing goes well with other eco-efficient policies

Kitchen Linker is a big fan of congestion pricing. While not as important as (much) higher gas taxes replacing less efficient taxes, congestion pricing is another win-win: more efficient and more environmentally friendly transportation system.

Save the environment and the economy, yada yadda yaddda.

Bono the tax hypocrite

See the New York Times story on U2's use of tax shelters.

This story isn't about Pigouvian taxes, but Kitchen Linker will take the opportunity to advocate 'em. If taxation were shifted from activities with positive externalities to activities with negative externalities then U2's licensing income would not be taxed and hypocritical tax dodges would not be "required" by U2-the-business, nor would they be possible.

On the other hand, U2 and U2 fan's jet-setting ways (KL includes the fans, as let's face it, only rich fans can afford to attend top stars' concerts, and fans often travel to do so) would be heavily taxed.

Government employees and public transit

Freakonomics points out that a New York Times article notes that in Manhattan government workers are the group second most likely to drive onto the island (most likely are workers in "transportation, warehousing and utilities"), likely because they get free parking with their government jobs (and probably many get free use of vehicles).

Kitchen Linker says government employees should be required to take public transit or at least should not get any subsidy for private transportation. This will result in more lobbying for better public transit (who is in a better position to lobby than government employees?), better transit, and more of everyone using public transit, in a virtuous cycle.

Greenspan goes green

Alan Greenspan quoted in the New York Times:

In late September, as he spoke to a group of business executives in Massachusetts, a question was posed as to whether he’d like to see an increase in the federal gasoline tax, which has stood at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993. “Yes, I would,” Mr. Greenspan responded with atypical clarity. “That’s the way to get consumption down. It’s a national security issue.”

The article also gives publicity to Greg Mankiw's Pigou Club. Excellent!

Billion Biofuel Branson

Bully for Branson. The article reads like most of the expected $3 billion (highly unknown, based on future Virgin profits) will be spent on developing biofuels. That sounds unexciting, but looks like they're going for big improvements.

The first investment was made in Cilion, a new California company building ethanol refineries that Virgin officials said burn far less fossil fuel than conventional biofuel operations.

However I think people are confusing not using fossil fuels and not producing greenhouse gasses:

“But the only way global warming is going to be beaten is to invest in new fuels that can actually replace fossil fuels.”

Uh, biofuels still produce greenhouse gasses. That's why I'm more excited by solar, windpower and other zero-emission technologies.

But airplanes aren't going to fly on electricity anytime soon, so Branson can be forgiven for being conservative. IATA has some cool figures on airplane fuel efficiency:

• New aircraft are 70% more fuel efficient than 40 years ago and 20% better than 10 years ago.
• The industry is aiming for a further 50% fuel efficiency improvement by 2020.
• Modern aircraft achieve fuel efficiencies of 3.5 litres per 100 passenger km.
• The A380 and B787 are aiming for 3 litres per 100 passenger km – better than a compact car!

I had no idea airplanes had improved so much. Sounds like another good investment would be to retire old planes ASAP. Maybe big airlines will lobby to force retirement, as new airlines using old planes are cutting into big airlines' profits.