Gas prices have dropped below $2 a gallon for unleaded regular in Michigan and a lot of people are happy about that.

But more than a few people also fret over what cheap gas means for our roads and our climate. Inexpensive fuel means more driving and thus more stress on our already-battered roads. And cheaper fuel translates into more pollution as motorists take to the roads.

Maybe the marginal difference isn’t that great over the volume of traffic we see now. But with “fix the damn roads” a political mantra in Michigan and with climate change becoming an ever more urgent problem, we ought to worry about any increase in potholes and pollution.

So what to do about it? One obvious idea that suggests itself is to raise the gas tax. That would immediately make gas more expensive at the pump and, according to Econ 101, would reduce the amount of driving we all do.

By the way, what we call the “gas tax” is a mix of federal and state levies. Michigan motorists currently pay slightly more than 60 cents a gallon in state and federal gas taxes. That puts the state among the most expensive for fuel taxes, although somewhat in line with our Midwest neighbors.

Raising the gas tax has appeal for some. Revenue from the gas tax is one way we pay for road repairs, and clearly, we need more cash for road maintenance. And making gas more expensive could reduce pollution, too, and it might begin to capture the “real” cost of driving that will show up in rising temperatures in coming years.

But as with any tax, there are tradeoffs. Fuel taxes tend to be what economists call regressive, meaning they fall most heavily on those lower down the income scale, those who can least afford to pay it. The recent “yellow vest” protests in France, which saw days of violence in the capital of Paris, represented in part a revolt by workers against higher fuel prices.

In an era of stark and rising income inequality in the U.S., raising the gas tax above its current level may be a bad idea.

I also have a philosophical objection to the idea that only those who drive should pay for road upkeep. Even stay-at-home shut-ins benefit from roads that carry the food and fuel and other goods and services we all consume, just as those without children benefit from having good schools in society.

Instead of a punitive tax, we need to think in terms of positive reinforcements to achieve our goals. If we want to reduce the stress on our roads, let’s enforce more stringent limits on truck weights, or build our roads tougher to begin with.

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If we want to reduce our reliance on privately owned, single-occupant vehicles to reduce air pollution, let’s invest more in public transportation and create carpool-only lanes on our highways.

We can take many other steps. In Sweden, buyers of electric vehicles not only get generous subsidies from the government, but they get to park for free in many places while owners of gas-powered vehicles have to pay. They also get free access to carpool lanes and even bus lanes in some places.

Or perhaps we could redesign our existing gas tax so that pickups and SUVs, which burn more fuel than sedans, would pay the gas tax at a higher rate. Owners might complain that they already pay more gas tax just by buying more fuel. But if the tax rate for a gas-guzzler were set at, say, twice the rate for a fuel-efficient vehicle, that would nudge consumers in the right direction.

True, it would mean reinventing how we collect the gas tax at the pump, but that’s a technical problem for which many solutions exist.

There are lots of ways to reduce the damage to roads and to our climate even in a time of cheap gas. Remember that Michigan has already reduced its reliance on coal-fired power plants through a combination of new technology that makes cleaner natural gas more affordable and incentives for the wind and solar industries.

So there’s no reason why we couldn’t enjoy both cheaper gas prices and a reduction in damage to our roads and climate. We just have to get serious about looking for innovative solutions.

Now that’s a resolution for the New Year.

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep