When we went hang gliding in Australia or France (as we did this year) we paid about $8/gallon for gasoline or diesel fuel. Somehow we all managed to continue hang gliding and getting retrieved, even on very long flights. How can these democracies institute high taxes when that doesn't appear possible in the US?

Our lack of high fuel taxes has made it quite impossible for us to even begin going in the direction of "energy independence," a goal stated by Richard Nixon and every president and president elect since then. Why should we believe that they are serious about this goal if they are not serious about a gas tax? Doesn't this just add to the cynicism?

We currently have CAFE standards that require car manufacturers to have a mix of products that meets an overall standard of fuel efficiency. These leads to the sale of small autos at a loss (in order to get them sold) and big autos (that are actually desired by the public when gas prices are low) at a profit, skewing the incentive signals to the automakers and getting us where we are today (blaming them for our own polices).

And where are we today? Lowest gas prices in five years. Automakers maybe getting bridge loans to no where. And editorial pages calling for a gas tax: here, here and here. But none of these suggestions actually get us toward "energy independence."

Let's be honest with ourselves for once. We are going to need a lot more than fiddling around at the margins if we want to achieve the stated goal. We are going to have to fundamentally restructure our economy, and to do that we need a price signal so strong and pervasive that it effects every man, women and child. Here is my plan.

Raise the US federal excise tax for gasoline and diesel fuel 50 cents every six months until an additional $4/gallon is added to the existing US excise tax on fuel. Offer the states 50% of all the increased tax by allowing them to raise their excise tax up to 50% of the raise in the US excise tax, decreasing the federal bite by exactly that amount.

Hold the taxes at that amount unless the base retail price of gasoline or diesel goes beyond $4/gallon, then raise the tax rate at 100% of the base retail price as long as it is above $4/gallon.

No additional excise tax on ethanol. In three years remove all import duties on ethanol. Add a $1/gallon excise tax on ethanol after four years. See here.

If the new CEO of General ChrsyFordCo, President Obama, were to mandate, as part of the bailout, that all U.S. vehicles beginning in [July] 2009 are required to be flexible fuel, i.e., able to run on both alcohol and gasoline, all it would take is the reprogramming of vehicle computers. There would be no capital investment costs at all.

Nationalization

Oh, you say that now is not a time for more taxes? Offset the gas taxes (which come in over time) with reductions in income taxes (for lower income earners).

So we can celebrate our basic nature as unpowered flight.