Seattle P-I: "Fuel Economy: Tax the guzzlers"

[Newsjock]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/223812_gasguzzled.asp?dpfrom=thead

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

As gasoline prices flirt with $3 a gallon, the developing world's energy demands escalate and the Bush administration is ready to throw open wildlife reserves to oil drilling, perhaps the most conspicuous of conspicuous consumption is driving a gas-guzzling vehicle.

Some who insist on doing so pay a price for the privilege, in the form of the federal gas-guzzler tax, which can range as high as $7,000 for new vehicles that can't manage to get more than 12.5 miles out of a gallon of gasoline.

But not all with the privilege of squandering are paying that price. Roughly 55 percent of the new cars registered in the United States last year were pickups, sport utility vehicles or vans. Yet pickup trucks, SUVs and vans are not subject to the gas-guzzler tax.

more