How long before the government decides to double gas taxes - after we quit consuming as much fuel

I'm just wondering how long it will take before our local & federal gas taxes begin to rise if & when they realize that we are not consuming as much fuel.

With fuel prices soon to be hitting 3 dollars a gallon I've noticed that I'm adjusting my driving habits already. Though I think I'll continue to drive even if it goes up to five dollars a gallon I will certainly be organizing my trips to travel shorter distances when possible. My tank of gas is about $60 & I used to go through at least one a week – I’ve dropped that back to 2-3 a month. Taxes are about 50 cents a gallon – I’m probably paying $15 less in fuel taxes a month.

My local grocery store is less than a half-mile away & even at $2.50 a gallon it doesn't cost much to get there, but I do drive a V-8 and the gauge does drop after a few trips to the store. I'm already walking to the store to pick up groceries just to make my tank go further. The other day I even rode the bus into town, because I had the extra time.

Eventually I think our consumption of fuel is going to drop & it's going to hurt the government budgets in lost tax revenue. Do you think their going to stick it to us again by raising taxes - so then we end up paying just as much as before we started conserving. Thus maybe we should just continue our normal habits - otherwise we'll just end up with less conveyance for the same amount of money (labor).

Many of us have insulated our homes & changed to more energy efficient appliances & cut our homes energy consumption in half, but our bills are right back to the level we started at - I know it's better to use less, but sometimes I wonder what the point is if the companies just raise the prices & the taxes go up just to make up for their lost revenue when we use less.

Maybe we will all be forced to install GPS's on our vehicals, so they can start charging us per mile as well as per gallon. With that in mind buying a smaller less comfortable vehical probably doesn't make much sense for a 260lb person with a 74" frame like myself.


[edit on 24-3-2005 by outsider]