I was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in 1994, when President Bill Clinton successfully championed the last gas-tax increase, of just 4.3 cents per gallon. Some of his “politically naive” economic advisers, including me, advocated a much larger increase, phased in gradually over five years, on both fiscal and environmental grounds.
但是，在11月中期国会选举即将到来之际，如此涨幅的反对声音很强，不管在国会还是在奥巴马政府中都是如此。这是十分难以理解的。1994年，我是经济顾问委员会主席，当时，克林顿总统成功地实行了最后一次汽油税提高，提高幅度仅为每加仑4.3美分。他的一些“政治上颇为幼稚的”经济顾问（包括我在内）从财政和环境角度出发，提出应该在五年的时间里逐渐大幅提高汽油税，4.3美分是远远不够的。