A few years back, lawmakers decided that the addiction to nicotine was something we couldn't acknowledge formally (or those, admittedly, necessary subsidies to tobacco growers would be illegal), but it was also something we wanted to actively discourage. So what did we do? We taxed the holy hell out of tobacco products.

If the governor has his way in the current legislative session, Chicagoans will be paying more than $3.10 per pack IN TAXES ALONE by year end. One can debate whether or not that is a good idea (and I happen to think it is a good idea, though I do worry what it might do to mom and pop grocers in Chicago)....but the fact is, it makes people think about the decision to feed their unhealthy addiction before they pony up this monster "sin" tax. (I also reognize that it punishes the poor more than the wealthy as all sales taxes do, but I don't want poor people smoking any more than I want the rich doing it.)

So...

Why not triple the gas-guzzler sales tax and start imposing state registration annual gas-guzzler taxes, making inefficient cars more expensive to purchase and own and start an incremental increase in the federal excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel sold to consumers (as opposed to transit authorities, public school systems, etc.) How about we pass a law permitting the raising of the tax even higher in areas with effective mass transit systems...

Will some companies suffer as a result? Sure...but you can't decrease our dependence on oil without someone in the economy suffering...talk to the folks who used to own peat and coal fired plants in the US and Britain that were shuttered to protect the environment...a societal cost worth undertaking.

I couldn't care less what we do with the increased tax revenue...heaven knows the deficit is large enough that it should probably go to pay a few seconds worth of interest on the national debt.

What say we link mandatory legislation regarding fuel efficiency in cars, trucks and vans (NOT just cars); new gas-guzzler taxes, and the increased gasoline tax...Call it the Twelve-Steps to End Fossil Fuel Addiction Bill.

Does anyone doubt that these measures would lower our dependence on oil, foreign or otherwise? If we can use taxes to disuade Americans from their cigarette addictions, can't we do the same for oil?