Charles Krauthammer’s opinion column on page 5C of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News discusses “Why we should raise gas tax and lower payroll taxes.” (You’ll also find it here at The Washington Post.)

A snippet:

Some things, like renal physiology, are difficult. Some things, like Arab-Israeli peace, are impossible. And some things are preternaturally simple. You want more fuel-efficient cars? Don’t regulate. Don’t mandate. Don’t scold. Don’t appeal to the better angels of our nature. Do one thing:

Hike the cost of gas until you find the price point. …

Have it go to the U.S. Treasury as a gasoline tax and be recycled back into lower payroll taxes.

Krauthammer is making sense on high gas prices being the only encouragement that is needed to change driving habits.

But why can’t that additional tax money money go instead to improve public transit in the suburbs, townships and smaller cities? Some food for thought:

• Why can’t those who live in Monroe catch a commuter bus to Toledo, Ann Arbor or Detroit?
• When can my college daughter take the train for a weekend home without a midnight drop-off in downtown Toledo, or participate in a car-sharing program in her college town so she can run errands without calling a taxi?
• When will we see more businesses seeking customers and homes for sale in Monroe promote “Lake Erie Transit stop nearby” as one of the amenities? (Honestly, that’s how I learned about LET. It was listed on an apartment complex brochure when we were house-hunting during our move to Monroe.)