Tax oil imports and fight terror

Every gallon of gasoline and kilowatt-hour of electricity that Americans use puts dollars into the hands of terrorist-supporting regimes in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. That ugly truth is increasingly hard to deny or ignore. Our economy is tied to oil. Terrorism is funded by our expenditures on oil.

One group of Americans thinks we can conserve our way out of financing terrorism by mandating higher gasoline mileage standards and subsidizing solar and wind power. Another group thinks we can drill and strip mine our way out by extracting oil from the arctic and intermountain West and using our abundant supplies of coal. We had this debate in the 1970s, and if history is any guide, both sides are wrong. Americans clearly prefer larger, safer and less fuel-efficient SUVs and pickups if gas is cheap, regardless of how much Green haranguing occurs. And the inconvenient truth is, we actually drive more when mileage improves, thus largely negating any conservation gains.

We could produce more oil and gas domestically by drilling in the arctic, off the coast and in the intermountain West, but many oppose such actions with an intense religious fervor. Regardless of the environmental consequences, we cannot produce enough new gas and oil to stop the terrorism-supporting dollars flowing to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

The terrorists targeted the twin towers of the World Trade Center because they were a symbol of global market capitalism. Ironically, that engine of modern prosperity is reviled by the same groups supporting higher mileage standards. Markets and prices, not government command and control, are the tools we must use to fight terrorism.

The most effective and efficient way to stem the flow of terrorist dollars to our enemies is to impose a significant tax on imported oil immediately. This action will encourage conservation across the board. It will encourage domestic production and alternative energy, without special-interest government bias picking winners and losers and it will reduce the flow of dollars to those who have and will use them to kill Americans. Money will flow to our Treasury, not the terrorists.

It is unlikely that President Bush or our congressional delegation will have the courage to advocate a painful tax increase to fight global terrorism. It’s much easier to do nothing and pander to constituencies that either share the terrorist’s distaste for market capitalism or don’t recognize that the Saudis are not our friends. Just remember the next time you fill up your car, your oil tank or flick on a light switch: these actions are funding those who hate America, capitalism, freedom and modernity.

Personally, I’d rather bomb and burn every oil field in Iraq and Saudi Arabia before they get more dollars to kill Americans.

Jon Reisman is associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Maine at Machias.