I'm not sure where your $6/gallon came from. Alternative fuels and alternative oil production methods (such as tar and shale to oil) become cost effective not far from the prices we're already at. Biodiesel and Ethanol are supposedly already profitable without government subsidies at $2/gallon. We blew through that price and are past $2.50/gallon in many places now, potentially on our way to $3/gallon. About the only thing I would personally support would be maybe another $0.20/gallon tax to provide incentives to accellerate the rate at which biofuel production can be scaled up to meet ever growing demand.

The $6 gas will do two things:

1. At that price, the American people WILL start to SERIOUSLY cut back on driving, which will help lower demand and thus will lower prices.
2. The added taxes will allow goverment to sponsor more and more alternative energy source programs, leading more people working on the problem and thus lead to faster results from the research.

And $6 per gallon will SERIOUSLY impact lower income people! Until she wrecked her car, my daughter's primary source of income was delivering newspapers. She was an "independent contractor" and was paid per paper delivered with a small adjustment for mileage - when gas prices rose, her net income dropped - it was simple as that. The newspaper agency did nothing to compensate for increased gas costs. For others, it's easy to say "take the bus" but many people do not live where there is easy access to bus service and/or the bus does not run anywhere close to where they need to go or don't run at the times they need them to run. If you need a car to get to work but the wages you earn barely cover the gas expenses, what can you do???

In a nutshell my answer is: YES.
Maybe not to $6 per gallon, or not right away.
For me, a key reason to do this is not so much reducing gas consumption, and dependence on foreign oil, but more climate change, and most of all, preserving petroleum for those purposes where it is irreplacable: for manufacturing goods, pharmaceuticals, and the many uses that we tend to forget about.
Eventually, we will find other ways to power vehicles. It will be much harder to find replacements for many plastics and pharmaceuticals that use petrochemical products.

I am in favor of raising the gas tax, significantly and immediately, under certain caveats.
The are as follows:
1) It is a pre-emptive strike to pay by the mile
2) The proceeds are used to improve and maintain the highways (better highways, smoother roads, mean better mileage)
3) The proceeds are used to REALLY research and develop on a fast track alternative fuels for the transportation insdustry.

While we, as hypermilers, look at our gas tanks, mpg, and gasoline/diesel bills, the true impact of the higher oil prices will surface in the winter time when we will have to pay premium prices for items that we take for granted during the summer. I am referring specifically to vegetables (grown locally in most regions in the summer) and heating oil (which we don't use a lot of in the summer and needs to be trucked in).

Just think, a tax of $1.00 per gallon, for my 700 mile weekly commute would raise my gasoline bill from $30 to $42. It would raise the person getting 20 mpg from $87.50 to $107.50. Someone, somewhere will begin to notice that the 20 mpg vehicle at $100+ per week, needs to do some economization. Maybe.

Or are we just so flush with cash, no one will notice???

-Charlie...

I favor spiking the gas tax - proportionally cutting the income tax.

Politics will make it complicated - give the working poor and truckers a break (don't have a problem with that).

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

Or people will just stop paying for the gas they use. Check this out. The situation will probably get real chaotic way before gas price hits $6US a gallon.

Andy

Technology can fix that, you just mandate that the gas won't pump without a credit, debit or gift card.

If the buyer doesn't have a CC, you sell them a gift card at the kiosk for $100, slide the money into a safe (no change, thank you), and if they only pump $50, they have $50 left for the next time.

In NJ, this happens less frequently, because we are not intelligent enough to pump our own gas. We have Petroleum Transfer Technicans.

-Charlie...

Oregon also prohibits self-serve at the pump - gets annoying if the guys at the station ignore you.....

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated