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Comment by cmos | Hacker News Reader

Stop subsidizing low gas prices for automobiles.

[citation needed]

Did you mean increase gas taxes? When I look at the gas price breakdown where I am (Michigan, USA), I only see taxes, no subsidies. http://www.michigangasprices.com/tax_info.aspx

Europe has much larger taxes on gas, diesel, and automobiles than in the US, which discourages car use and ownership.

I consider the taxes I pay to fund the US military to be a gas subsidy. Without it we wouldn't have access to such cheap and plentiful oil.

I believe most countries that are the target of the US military see an immediate drop in petroleum production and our single largest source of oil imports is Canada.

You're probably right, but that's not what I was referring to. I was referring to the US Navy that patrols international waters to ensure smooth flows of oil tanks, and I was referring to the money that goes to protect the Saudi government and their oil fields, etc.

It doesn't really matter where we import our oil from. The world market is interconnected. If supplies drop in Venezuela, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, then the demand for oil from Canada will go up worldwide. So it's in our interest to keep the oil flowing from countries other than Canada.

I'm not sure why you were downvoted (comment currently at 0). If you look at countries where gas is the most expensive you see smaller, more fuel efficient cars, and more use of public transport.

Granted, this is also because many of the cities in those countries are old and weren't designed for vehicles, leading to congestion problems. These areas usually have high densities of people as well.

>"I'm not sure why you were downvoted (comment currently at 0). "

Probably because the US does not actually subsidize gasoline. So, the first comment is factually wrong.

I'm not so sure it is factually wrong. here is a reference.

http://www.progress.org/2003/energy22.htm

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