As this makes everything more expensive to buy due to the trickle-down effect the Chinese will revel at how we can be so stupid and self-destructive and continue to suck away our core manufacturing jobs and pollute more making the same product due to lax pollution laws there.The liberals are all for this nonesense using the misguided theory of global warming but don't seem to give a damn about the bigger picture of steadily improving our living conditions as we have done every generation. Something bigger than global warming going on here folks, if you can't see it then you must be blinder than a bat.
Where has common sense gone??

He is not actually proposing a tax on the McMansions, but just taking away a benefit that encourages consumption by the ultra rich.

A typical family does not need more than 3000 square feet. The idea that multi-millionares get huge tax breaks for building extra large houses is outragous. In additon, there are extra tax breaks for driver Hummers. Why is that?

Taxing gasoline will not hurt the economy.

Instead it will encourage people to conserve and spend money on more fuel efficient cars or other things that do not consume as much gasoline.

It is great that some politicians have the balls to actually do something and not cower to those who want to waste valuable resources.

Nice to see the dems paving the way for another loss in the Senate, as documented by the thoughtful people on real climate.
http://www.realclimate.org/images/ssn5.jpg
(Thanks for that link Mark)

In November, the "democrats" managed to scrape out a 49/49 tie in the Senate by 1,000 votes in Montana. They immediately declared a mandate to spend the next two years trying to put Republicans in jail, free terrorists, turn Iraq over to Al Qaida, create AGW hysteria, and massively raise taxes. Their approval ratings are near single digits, yet they insist on wasting taxpayer money taking boondoggles to tell us that "glaciers are moving in Greenland" and trying to raise gas prices further than the 30% inflation rate we have seen the last three years.

Brilliant thinking. No wonder they are so closely aligned to the AGW movement.

World oil prices are headed for $100 per barrel, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez predicted on Saturday
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/11/news/economy/bc.venezuela.oilprice.reut/index.htm

Dems in lockstep with another of America's sworn enemies. Many of them greeted Chavez as a hero when he came to the US last year.

One more comment about this brilliant idea.

Dingell wants to write legislation to reduce the emission of global warming gases by 60 to 80 percent by 2050

Water vapor is far and away the dominant greenhouse gas. Is Dingell looking to restrict evaporation through taxation?

Yep, their answer to everything! Have a problem (or in this case a non-existant problem), raise taxes! Pefect! And then the lunatic fringe will blame Bush for the higer gas prices. Brilliant strategy! Just Brilliant!

Pittsburgh Weather. Proof that Global Warming is a FRAUD!!!!

Oh, for Petes sake. This Dingy Dingell man is not right. (he is a poster child for term limits in congress/senate) Raising the tax on gas will only hurt the lower income people as far as driving and trying to get to work as a minimum. It will also increase costs for goods and services for everyone, related to transportation of said goods and services. Prices will continue to go up even more. (Andrew-economics is not your strongest suit. Plus I am beginning to think you may still be in high school.) Eliminating the mortgage deduction on houses over 3000 sq feet is most definitely an indirect tax increase. Who are you or anyone to tell me or anyone else that a typical family does not NEED more than 3000 sq feet! We are not a Socialist country yet. Owning a 3000 sq feet home does not require you to be a multi-millionaire!! A lot of middle-income folks own 3000 plus homes. (Our home is less than 3000 sq feet now although we used to have a 4000 sq foot home and we are middle income and have never been even millionaires - dang.) Currently with the subprime mortgage issue and the housing picture being not exactly robust, to eliminate the deduction would have a devastating effect on the housing industry, the mortgage industry and the stock market. Coupled that with tax increases on gas and more taxes coming down the pike such as carbon taxes, "excess" oil profit taxes, you will see a major major hit to the economy. Also, will we add even more bureauacy to the government mess, by instituting a Housing Police in the IRS. I guess we will have to report to the IRS the size of our homes and will the Housing Police do routine patrols to make sure we reported correctly. I guess they could check local real estate records but it is just more bureauacy and just plain stupid and non-productive. And NONE of this is going to reduce global warming!!!! Wealthy investors and companies that have profits generally are the ones that invest in new technologies and provide jobs and can help towards funding environment/pollution/GW projects. Try and remember the last time a poor person gave you a job. Allow an attractive, profit-oriented, market environment and they will come. Let's not go down the socialist road to government telling us what size house we really NEED, what type of car we really NEED, how much energy we really NEED, how much money we really NEED, how much air we really NEED, blah, blah. It's stuff like this that makes me even more skeptical of AGW and the politicians trying to pull off this scam.

One other point I just remembered is that the majority of multi-millionaires pay CASH for their homes. They put their money into other tax-free investment options where the return is greater than the tax deduction from a mortgage.

Dumb ideas..but what's new. Dems thrive on class warfare, I'll bet a lot more voters live in less than 3000 sq feet homes than exist that do.
Hey lets tax Mercedes, Cadillac and Hummers because most of us can't afford them...I mean because they increase our reliance on foreign oil....Yeah that's the ticket.
How about a GOP tax where GOP'ers and any Indies that vote GOPer get hit with an extra %100 tax increase?
That be FAIR right?
Dingle knows that won't pass, he's playing politics.
Sad to see this whole GW debate is now 98% political and any real scientific debate over the issue is impossible, largely because the "visionaries" (ie; CULTISTS) have decided that "DENIERS" (ie; Heretics) do not even a right to engage them in open debate.
Thus Mark (frequent blogger) and others convinced that debate is over spend their days writing DENIER, DENIER etc etc instead of trying to actually win the argument.
I'm a DENIER, I haven't seen any evidence that when (if) it warms it will be bad to have massive new areas of cropland become more productive in Russia and Canada.

Why in the world would we want to add a 50 cents tax on gas when Dark Matter is the real danger to us???

We know dark matter exists even though we cannot see it or detect it because some people with PhD's says its there and there have been many publications on it. Consensus!

Now that we have determined that it is real, we must create some models based on our best guess of what will happen, not if but when several hundred billion solar masses worth of the stuff slams into our galaxy. A good guess would be TOTAL DESTRUCTION.

A PHD says it comprises 25% of the mass of our universe, therefore the probability is very high that within the next 100 years it will collide with us.

Let's make sure I have all the "facts" right. Cannot see it. Check. Cannot measure it. Check. A PhD says it is real. Check. We have consensus. Check. We are all doomed. Check.

Everything checks out. Now there will be deniers out there, but we know they hate out planet and want to see it's destruction so we must not give into there silly demands of "proof". The important thing is that we love our planet so keep repeating "The debate is over", all we need to do now is figure out who to tax.

One upside of gas-taxes is that they encourage vehicle manufacturers to gain expertise in manufacturing smaller cars. Penetrating the markets of India and China will require almost golfcar-like models. North American manufacturers already have the materials science advantages to make these models at lowest cost, in theory.

It's important to note that Dingell is only introducing this legislation as a distraction because right now the focus is on increasing CAFE standards. The CEO of Ford advocated a gas tax over increasing CAFE standards, and Dingell just does whatever the automakers tell him to do. Most democrats favor the cap-and-trade approach over a gas tax and, in actuality, most of the support for carbon taxes is coming from trickle-down economists.

I think carbon taxes is the least transparent and most efficient method for reducing carbon emissions, but we are at least ten years away from having a political climate that facilitates implementing one.

The House passed an energy bill a couple weeks ago. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the Senate/House conference.

Nowhere does Dingell say what he plans to spend the 50 cents a gallon on. No doubt revenue generated by the plan will be put into the general fund to be wasted by Congress.

"Currently with the subprime mortgage issue and the housing picture being not exactly robust, to eliminate the deduction would have a devastating effect on the housing industry, the mortgage industry and the stock market. Coupled that with tax increases on gas and more taxes coming down the pike such as carbon taxes, "excess" oil profit taxes, you will see a major major hit to the economy."

Alarmist Alert, Alarmist Alert! We have a live one here, folks!

Oh yeah, BTW, Mary, gas prices have almost doubled over the past five years and we have not seen any significant hit to the economy nor much change in driving habits. There is a threshold at which gas prices would hurt the economy, but most economists now believe that threshold is around $5 or $6 per gallon. Increasing gas taxes by 50 cents will not cause much, if any, harm.

Another thing, Mary -- nobody is stopping you from buying a big house. If you want to be a high roller, good for you. But the government shouldn't be subsidizing grandiose lifestyles. I'm all for giving generous tax breaks to small businesses, first-time home buyers, start-ups, etc. But subsidizing people for their luxurious lifestyles is just ridiculous.

You don't "need" a mansion, Mary.

Mark,

If you want to pay another $.50 in gas taxes be my guest. If Dingle wants to impose this as a non mandatory tax and only those who worry about GW would have to pay it. Great. Be my guest. But do not try and tell me that .50 cents would not hurt millions of Americans, all for a stupid, non-existent cause. Tired of people saying its only another tax. I hope Dingleberry keeps pumping for this tax. Can not wait for the election results in 2008.

Jon
PS: IF you have to wait 10 years to get the political climate you need to ram this tax through, it wont happen. In 10 years GW will be "on the ash heap of history".

Mark, I don't have a mansion. I didn't say I had a mansion. Actually, we have a dump, a small old 70's ranch that got hit by a tree in April 2007 during a Nor'easter. It is still not liveable and the insurance isn't paying for all the fixes. We live in the basement. And we have a small income because we started our own business a few years ago and my husband is going to school part-time, so we are using our retirement funds to pay to fix the house. But that has nothing to do with anything here nor with what I NEED. The point is if EVERYTHING the alarmists WANTED to do actually happened, you would see a major hit to the economy. But fortunately, Dingy Dingell's idea will probably never get off the ground, as well as many other goofy ideas. Why, because there are many of us out here going DENY! DENY! DENY! The Global Warming Lie.

Jon
PS: IF you have to wait 10 years to get the political climate you need to ram this tax through, it wont happen. In 10 years GW will be "on the ash heap of history".

My initial thought exactly as I read that line.

In 10 years GW will be "on the ash heap of history".

REPLY: Yeah! And then what will Mark and the rest of the peacenicks do? They won't have anyone to blame their/the worlds problems on! Heaven forbid!

Pittburgh Weather. Further proof that Global Warming is a CROCK!!!!!

Taxing gasoline will not hurt the economy.

REPLY: Oh BULL! Andrew, you are either grossly uneducated with that statement, or you have been brainwashed by some ponytailed professor at the college you went to! Taxing gasoline will hurt everyone who drives! Everyone who uses public transporation. It will drive up the cost of the food that you eat. It will drive the cost of shipping up. It will drive up the cost of an airline ticket. It will drive up the cost of just about everything involved with commerce. Don't try feeding this crap to us! Don't go assuming that everyone will just blindly go along with this FARCE and willingly say "well, I'll just have to dig a little deeper in my pocket" or "well, it's just another tax, I suppose." That's where you and your ilk are wrong. The people of this country are smarter than that, to by into your liberal garbage. Translation, don't waste your breath, bunky. Because we ain't buy'n it! It's time to say NO to these wack jobs, people. Write your congressmen and senators!

Instead it will encourage people to conserve and spend money on more fuel efficient cars or other things that do not consume as much gasoline.

REPLY: Encourage, eh? Correct me if I am wrong, but Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin did a lot of "encouraging" back when they were in power too.

DENY DENY DENY THE LEFTIST GLOBAL WARMING BS!!!!!!

Will people vote for green taxes or will they vote for lower taxes and better incomes?

Silly question, buisness as usual will turn us all into ashes, but the voters would not have it any other way.

Hi
I live in the UK, certainly one of the most expensive places to buy fuel thanks to the tax levied on it by HM Government. Roughly speaking, the Government pulls in about 70% tax on each litre purchased at the pump. Current prices are around 96 pence a litre, or �3.65 a (US) Gallon, $7.35 a gallon! Has it helped to reduce traffic on the roads. Not one bit. Congestion is at an all time high, with major cities planning congestion charges of up to $38 a visit if you take your car in. Thats on top of the annual road tax of around $400. All this money gets sucked into the treasury, and disappears. If you do get a tax increase on fuel in the US, make sure that the revenue that is taken is accounted for in full to assist with improved transport links.
Good luck

Just wait Mark they have got a whole lot of new tax ideas to hit your wallet. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Oh I guess we can't say that anymore seeing they are all melting. I am glad you are so willing to give your money away to something that is make believe but the rest of us don't want any part of it. Have fun with it brother.

"Taxing gasoline will hurt everyone who drives! Everyone who uses public transporation. It will drive up the cost of the food that you eat. It will drive the cost of shipping up. It will drive up the cost of an airline ticket. It will drive up the cost of just about everything involved with commerce."

Again, I repeat: Gas prices have doubled over the past five years and there hasn't been much effect on the economy.

"In 10 years GW will be "on the ash heap of history"."

Science isn't about your "belief," jonny boy. All of us hope AGW isn't occurring, but overwhelming evidence is showing otherwise.

This is just politics. Going into the 2008 cycle, a 50 cent increase in gas taxes would be a disaster politically for most of our politicians. However, as BL Tom and I have stated, the only way to reduce the consumption of a product is to raise its price. That is why, increased CAFE standards, in the long run, increase fuel consumption. CAFE standards make autos more fuel efficient and lower the total costs of transportation. Ergo, people drive more.

Again, I repeat: Gas prices have doubled over the past five years and there hasn't been much effect on the economy.

REPLY: Yeah, you are correct, Marko. Higher gas prices haven't. Because that is based on increased demand, especailly from developing nations. More taxes will hurt the consumer and the economy! But obviously, your knowledge of economics is questionable since you don't seem to comprehend this scenario. Stop trying to twist things by justifying your agenda of bringing this economy in goose step with that of Europe, stop trying to justify your "for the common good" hero's like Mister Dingel. We the people hear you and say NO!

Pittsburgh Weather. Proof that Global Warming is a CROCK!!!!

"Pittsburgh Weather. Proof that Global Warming is a CROCK!!!!"

Pittsburgh has averaged 4.5 degrees above normal for the month of August thus far.

"More taxes will hurt the consumer and the economy!"

Most economists believe that gas prices have to reach at least $5 per gallon to significantly affect the US economy. A 50 cent tax would not come anywhere close to reaching that threshold.