The study found that 48% of Americans are unwilling to spend even a penny more in fuel taxes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the other end of the scale, just 18% of those surveyed would be willing to pay 50 cents or more in taxes per gallon to reduce greenhouse emissions – an idea the U.S. government is considering.
These results, however, need to be taken with a grain of salt. The NCPPR is well known for its right-wing, anti-environmentalist bias. The group is even sponsored by oil companies so it’s not surprising that it’s claiming a small tax on fuel to help the environment would be a bad idea. Officials even told respondents of the survey that eliminating every car in the U.S. would only reduce world emissions by a fraction, so it's easy to understand why most would be against the tax on fuel. Among those willing to pay more for gasoline to reduce emissions, 58% were found to be less willing to do so, and 42% much less willing, when informed their sacrifice would produce little positive results.
This is a little hard to swallow given the fact that NCPPR’s vice president David Ridenour also states that one-fifth of all U.S. CO2 emissions comes from light trucks and cars.