The Energy-Policy Efficiency Gap: Was There Ever Support for Gasoline Taxes?

Christopher Knittel

No 18685, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: From 1864 to 1972, the real price of oil fell by, on average, over one percent per year. This trend dramatically broke when prices for crude increased by over 650 percent from 1972 to 1980. Policy makers adopted several policies designed to keep oil prices in check and reduce consumption. Missing from these policies were taxes on either oil or gasoline, prompting a long economics literature documenting the inefficiencies of these alternative policies. In this paper, I review the policy discussion related to the transportation sector that occurred during the time through the lens of the printed press. In doing so, I pay particular attention to whether gasoline taxes were "on the table," as well as how consumers viewed the inefficient set of policies that were ultimately adopted. The discussions at the time suggest that meaningful changes in gasoline taxes were on the table; the public discussion seemed to be much greater than it is today. Some in Congress and many presidential advisors in the Nixon, Ford, and, Carter administrations supported and proposed gasoline taxes. The main roadblocks for taxes were Congress and the American people. Polling evidence at the time suggests that consumers preferred price controls and rationing and vehicle taxes over higher gasoline taxes or letting gasoline prices clear the market. Given the saliency of rationing and vehicle taxes, it seems difficult to argue that these alternative polices were adopted because they hide their true costs.

JEL-codes: H23 K32 L50 L62 L91 Q38 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-reg and nep-tre
Note: EEE IO POL
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published as If you need an accessible version of this item please contact JSTOR User Support Tax Policy and the Economy Vol. 28, No. 1, January 2014 The Political Econom... Tax Policy and the Economy The Political Economy of Gasoline Taxes: Lessons from the Oil Embargo Christopher R. Knittel Tax Policy and the Economy Vol. 28, No. 1 (January 2014), pp. 97-131 Published by: The University of Chicago Press DOI: 10.1086/675589

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w18685.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18685

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w18685

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().