From the Miami Herald, Thursday, May 1, 2008:

As bad ideas go, it is hard to top the proposal to reduce federal gasoline taxes as a way to help drivers cope with soaring fuel costs. There is no doubt that the pain at the gas pump is real. Except for the few who drive big rigs or are engaged in commercial transportation, however, the savings from a tax suspension would be minimal. Meanwhile, an artificial cut in prices pumps up demand, which is the real source of the crisis.

The tax holiday -- give-away, to call it by its real name -- is a classic Washington palliative. It creates the illusion that the politicians are making the problem go away when, instead, they are actually making the problem worse. Giving drivers a cut of 18.4 cents on every gallon, or $2.76 for a 15-gallon fill-up, might ease the pain momentarily. But it does nothing to cure the underlying problem, which consists of an addiction to cheap gasoline coupled with wasteful habits like driving gas-guzzlers instead of gas-savers.

Unlike previous surges in gasoline prices, this one is not the result of an OPEC cut in production or a boycott, but rather largely an increase in demand by India and China. Cutting taxes will have little effect in the face of elementary economics: Greater demand yields higher prices, especially when the product is an increasingly scarce commodity like oil rather than a manufactured appliance. With the number of cars on China's roads increasing by 26 percent a year, and 16 percent a year in India, the increase in global demand won't end soon. Cutting taxes will encourage Americans to drive more instead of less. Clearly, this is not the solution. What will Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain -- both of whom favor a gas-tax holiday -- advocate when the price hits $5 a gallon?

President Bush's suggestion to start drilling in Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge is another gimmick that won't affect prices in the short run and is unlikely to have a long-term impact. Meanwhile, cutting taxes allows political leaders to appear responsive and postpones the day when hard choices have to be made. If Congress had adopted higher fuel-economy standards decades ago instead of ignoring the warning signs of a future crisis, Americans would be in a better position to cope.

Ultimately, the solution lies in using alternative sources of energy such as wind, solar and biomass. Congress and the president must work together to encourage private industry to invest in developing these new forms of energy instead of engaging in endless finger-pointing over who's to blame for the current crisis. It would be refreshing, for a change, if all the parties could agree to promote the national interest instead of their partisan political interests.