Economist Roundup

The NYT has a roundup of a new consensus emerging amongst the nation's economists, who are increasingly unified in their support for higher energy taxes. Most prominent convert: Alan Greenspan. The current focus is on the gasoline excise tax.

While transportation advocates and others have cited the need to raise the excise tax on gasoline for quite a while (cf: inflation, increased vehicle fuel economy pinching revenues, and the coming bankruptcy of the Highway Trust Fund), the new consensus includes national security and other arguments to justify the increase.

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