An interesting socio-economic idea...

I was talking to a colleague the other day about gas prices and he mentioned that they aren't high enough. Rather than the government setting bogus gas mileage requirements for cars, he'd like to see the government increase the gasoline tax and let the market determine which cars sell. Maybe you buy a truck for those six or seven times you go skiing. You don't really care how much gas costs then, but if you commute every day and gas is $10/gallon you bet your ass you'll be driving the most fuel efficient car possible. He thought they could reduce the income tax proportionally so that people don't end up paying more.

I like that idea quite a bit. I think we should eliminate all taxes except those on resources. You shouldn't be taxed for making money, but you should pay for the right to use a resource since those belong to all. Maybe a 20-30% tax on everything sold except for food and then reduce income tax to next to nothing unless you make more than $1M/year. The best way to get someone to use less of something is to make that something expensive. If we're worried about running out of oil, then make it nearly prohibitively expensive. People will drive less or market pressure will bring electric vehicles to the road sooner.

I also think the government should give everyone a credit towards health care. You can then spend it on a PPO, HMO or whatever health care you want. Once the money comes directly from the consumer, then there'll be pressure to reduce prices and improve customer service.

I'm sort of talkin' out my ass now, but I agree with my colleague that our choices should never be restricted. Some choices should be costly, but we should still have them available.