I started a small Twitter war last night when I suggested that perhaps we should tax gasoline to pay for the cleanup of the oil volcano in the Gulf.
BP is statutorily limited to $75M in damages for a spill. I suspect that they will end up paying more than that voluntarily, but they will, at some point, say no mas. There is likely a bill that will raise the limit, but I believe that the courts will not allow then to enforce it retroactively. Who pays then, and how do we collect the money?
I have suggested that we tax gas, since it is a way to align the cost of the spill with the consumers that create the demand. I maintain that we, as oil-demanding consumers, bear some responsibility for the oil spill. That responsibility is not unlike the responsibility that drug users in the US bear for drug cartel violence in Mexico. One of our local conservative bloggers, Elbert says that he bears no responsibility for that oil spill in the gulf.
What do you think? Should we pay for it from the general fund, let the gulf states pay, do some sort of special tax, or chase BP in the courts for 20 years to squeeze the money from them?