A Comparative History of Motor Fuels Taxation, 19092009

Why Gasoline Is Cheap and Petrol Is Dear

By (author) Carl-Henry Geschwind

Publication date:

09 May 2017

Length of book:

256 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498553803

Slowing down global warming is one of the most critical problems facing the world’s policymakers today. One favored solution is to regulate carbon consumption through taxation, including the taxation of gasoline. Yet gasoline tax levels are much lower in the United States than elsewhere. Why is this so, and what does it tell us about the prospects for taxing carbon here? A Comparative History of Motor Fuels Taxation, 1909–2009: Why Gasoline Is Cheap and Petrol Is Dear examines these questions by tracing the evolution of gasoline tax policies in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand since the early twentieth century. In the process, it highlights the crucial role played by fiscal crises.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings of the Gasoline Tax, 1909–1929
Chapter 2: Responding to Depression and the War, 1929–1949
Chapter 3: Boom Years, 1949–1969
Chapter 4: Oil Shocks and Economic Stagnation, 1969–1989
Chapter 5: The Age of Global Warming, 1989–2009

Geschwind’s book is an excellent contribution to a now well-developed literature that examines automotive history through transnational comparisons. . . . But he is careful not to claim too much, noting the need for further studies of motor fuels taxation in a number of nations that would pose interesting case studies. When other historians undertake those other studies, this solid book will be an essential first comparison.