The current downtick in gas prices is only a temporary fluke. They will rise again to even higher levels as the economy recovers with the new taxes. Soon only the upper middle -rich folks will be able to afford the luxury of putting gas in their tanks.

Raise the gas tax by a dollar and use the money to pay for public transportation.

Remember.. business and corporations DON'T pay taxes. The're just tax collectors. They just treat taxes as overhead and add the cost to the wholesale price. The consumer (YOU) end up paying the bill in cash.. and in your pension and 401k investments.

hankwilliams -"Raise the gas tax by a dollar and use the money to pay for public transportation." How about Public transportation in say "Alton" or "Meddybemps" or are you asking the people who live there to transfer their money to say Bangor or Portland?

America imports nearly 10 million barrels of oil per day. Rather than a per gallon tax at the pump, we should have a $5 per barrel tax on imported oil. That would be $50-million per day, $350-million per week. A year would give us $18.2-trillion or 6 times our entire yearly budget.

The existing taxes on gas and diesel could stay as is. Thus, irregardless of the price of a barrel of oil the tax would remain the same. If the price of gas goes up again (as we all know it will), the public will reduce the number of miles driven. The only response the government would have is to, guess what, raise the gas tax again.

The oil companies have profited immensely. And yes, they will pass this $5 tax on to the public. But we have taught big oil a valuable lesson - the higher the price, the less we buy. Hopefully, we have taught Washington an important lesson as well - keep your hands out of our pockets and read the newspaper.

Some of us who pay the country's bills are thinking for you.

pjramsay, sounds like a good idea.

pjramsay... Best suggestion I've seen posted here ever.

Vichet, whatever works to de-centralize the place of the private automobile in our transportation picture should be considered. If this means that rural areas are a little less subsidized by larger towns, so be it. People in Bangor pay for the upkeep of roads that lead to small towns, so people who live in small towns should help pay for expanded bus service in and between population centers.

PJRamsay, "irregardless" is not a word. But you are right that higher gas prices discourage driving. Did you know that a round trip between Bangor and

Rockland on a comfortable Concord Trailways bus costs only $30? The private automobile is the most subsidized form of transportation there is. We need to invest in alternatives.

Bus service from cooper to bangor sounds like fun.

You dont get out much do you SteveyDee?

I'm not allowed. Safer for everyone else.

I see from a recent news article that the Peoples Republic of China is cutting their tax rate... to stimulate income growth for the lower income groups... You don't suppose the Communists are on to something do you.

Tax free speech

We cant get out much up here in the Tundra , it costs too much.