PERSPECTIVE ON ENERGY TAX : How to Beat a Gasoline Price Hike at the Pumps : Here's a multiple-win way to pay less at the pump; you and your children gain, and so does the government.

PERSPECTIVE ON ENERGY TAX : How to Beat a Gasoline Price Hike at the Pumps : Here’s a multiple-win way to pay less at the pump; you and your children gain, and so does the government.

By DONELLA H. MEADOWS

Feb. 22, 1993 12 AM PT

Donella H. Meadows, an adjunct professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth, is the co-author, with Dennis L. Meadows and Jorgen Randers, of "Beyond the Limits" (Chelsea Green, 1992).

There is much talk of sacrifice these days, and much media drama about whether the American people will accept such a terrible hardship as an energy tax. The fuss is exaggerated. The energy tax is predictable, sensible and long overdue. The people asked for it. And it is not a sacrifice.

The voters who supported Ross Perot and Bill Clinton in November already took a stand for an energy tax. Perot promised a 50-cents-a-gallon gas tax, and while the media were recoiling in horror at such an un-American idea, people were flocking to him. Clinton was not so explicit, but everyone who knew anything about him or Al Gore expected that he’d propose a gas tax. He has wisely expanded it to all forms of energy, to give the market a more level playing field.

The Clinton tax may amount to just about exactly Perot’s proposal, 50 cents on a gallon of gasoline--only a fraction of what our competitors pay in Europe and Japan. A smart consumer can easily avoid even this small bite, while helping to bring the national deficit down.

How? Easy. Say you’re an average driver with an average car. You go about 10,000 miles a year and get about 20 miles a gallon. You use 500 gallons of gas a year. Let’s say you pay $1.20 a gallon now, 10 cents of which is federal tax. Your gas bill is $600 a year, $50 of which goes to Uncle Sam.

Now suppose the new tax adds 50 cents a gallon. If you keep the 20 m.p.g. car, your annual bill goes up to $850, $300 of which goes to the government. Good for deficit, bad for you. Sacrifice.

So turn in the guzzler for a new or used car that gets 40 m.p.g. Of the 597 car models for sale in the United States in 1992, exactly 27 got ratings of at least 40 m.p.g. for highway driving (11 of them made domestically, 16 imported). Here are some of the choices: Ford Festiva and Escort Pony, Chevrolet Geo Metro, Pontiac LeMans, Honda Civic, Suzuki Swift, Volkswagen Jetta--some of the least expensive cars.

At 40 m.p.g. and 10,000 miles, you will use just 250 gallons of gas a year. Given the tax, you will pay $425--that’s $175 less than you’ve been paying. Of the $425, the government gets $150--$100 more than it has been getting.

This is a win / win / win / win / win solution. The winners are: 1) your pocketbook, 2) your children, who won’t have to pay back such a huge national debt, 3) the companies smart enough to make efficient cars, 4) the environment, which will be loaded with half as much air pollution from every mile you drive and 5) the U.S. balance of payments.