Gas Tax Falls Flat

According to a story in today’s Financial Times, Europeans are buying more SUVs than ever. Evidently, European consumers don’t care that larger cars emit more greenhouse gases than compacts, because SUV sales are up by 7 percent. The news must have come as a shock to bureaucrats across the pond, who justify $3-a-gallon gasoline taxes on the grounds that artificially high fuel prices encourage European consumers to buy more fuel efficient cars. Apparently not.

Proponents of a carbon tax to fight global warming should take heed: What can they hope to accomplish?