Business: Carter Considers a Gas Tax

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Though nobody likes rationing or higher taxes, the economy is destined to suffer even worse reverses if Congress fails to act. OPEC's prices are all but certain to keep climbing in 1980, draining wealth out of the U.S. economy and into the bank accounts of foreign oil exporters. The price rise will help slow the consumption of gasoline still further, of course, but the inflationary impact will quickly spread throughout the whole economy, since crude oil price increases affect not just automotive fuel but all petroleum products. Enacting a gasoline tax would not only slow consumption while providing less inflationary pain, but would also soften the impact on the economy of future cartel price increases because less foreign oil would be entering the U.S.

For too long Americans have blithely assumed that rivers of cheap energy would flow through that economy like a magic elixir in endless abundance. But as 1979 has vividly demonstrated, the nation takes extreme risks if it does not curb its addiction to demon crude.

For the long term, it is vital to move forward rapidly to develop every alternative energy source, from coal and shale to wind, waves and the sun. Meanwhile, conservation of existing supplies is indispensable, and politicians would do well to face the issue. Concludes Milton Lipton, president of the leading petroleum advisory firm of Walter J. Levy Consultants: "Despite the inevitable inequities of either steep taxes or rationing, there comes a time when you have to say, 'Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.' I cannot think of a better time to ask the American people to accept either of those measures than during the current Iranian crisis. The political opportunity may never be better."