That new "Super Committee" or "Catfood II committee" may have been set up to deadlock, but it happens to be in a great position to suggest good ideas that nobody likes and nobody wants to be the first to bring up.
Here's one such suggestion, inspired by this New York Times editorial
"The Clear Case for the Gas Tax."
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The tax on gasoline as a motor fuel should not just be continued; it should be increased.
I suggest a bill that would not only extend the 18.4 cent a gallon tax, due to expire September 30, but that would increase the tax by 2 cents a gallon every month for at least five years. In October 2016 the federal tax would then be $1.384 per gallon. State taxes currently average about $0.25 a gallon, but the states might jump on the bandwagon and help their own budgets with a similar measure.
Such a steady increase in the tax would give new car buyers a guideline on how to factor in the cost of fuel years down the road. "By 2016, when I'd expect to sell the car I'm about to buy, gas will cost at least five dollars a gallon. How's the mileage, again?"
As the Times editorial points out, most of Europe already has motor fuel taxes that are far higher than that projected $1.384 we'd reach in five years. And as the editorial also points out, there are other ways to make up for the increased burden on folks who have to drive to work.
If the six Senators and six Representatives on the 'Super Committee' take their job seriously, they'll report out measures like this. And if anyone asks, "Who first suggested this ugly idea, anyway," they could say it was floating around on blogs, and when it was first brought up in the Committee they had the sense not to 'kill the messenger' but in stead picked up on it as the kind of painful medicine the economy and budget and environment need.