The author suggests something significant happened when the price of gas passed $4/gallon.  We had entered nose bleed territory and consumers made big changes to their driving habits, significantly reducing the overall miles/driver numbers.  Even more significant - as the price of gasoline has fallen, the mileage number has stayed relatively low.  Kinsey wonders if Americans haven't finally made a commitment to consuming less energy.

Will this change in behavior last? Or will we return to our wastrel ways as we climb out of recession and the reality again sinks in that gas is cheap? The one sure way to prevent this second scenario from happening is not to let gas get cheap again. Yes, this is yet another plea for that hoary notion: a big energy tax. Just five months ago, we were essentially paying a tax of $95 per bbl. That's the difference between what oil cost then and what it costs now. This was a "tax" whereby the revenue went into the pockets of oil producers — about two-thirds of them foreign countries and one-third fellow Americans. Isn't there something better to do with the money?

...this is the perfect moment for the other part of many proposals for an energy tax, which is to give the money back to people by lowering the payroll tax.

Cutting the FICA tax in half, for workers and for employers, would make it more affordable for employers to hire — or avoid layoffs — while giving everyone who makes less than $100,000 a 7.5% raise to spend and stimulate the economy even further. People making more than $100,000 would get a tax cut too — as big as anyone else's, though a smaller percentage of their incomes.

It comes down to this: in the terrible storm of economic misery, we suddenly have a half-trillion-dollar windfall. As unemployment heads toward double digits, we can use this found money to encourage people to create jobs, or we can use it to encourage people to use more gasoline. It's a pretty easy choice, don't you think?

Of course, this argument pre-supposes oil prices will stay low at near the $40-45/barrel mark.  But the demonstrated unwillingness of drivers to buy into $140/barrel oil may keep crude prices relatively low with reduced demand, and the difference between current pricing and the historical high prices of the summer months can represent the tax Kinsey proposes. 

It's about killing several birds with a single stone.  One it forces Americans to use less energy, reducing reliance on foreign oil until suitable replacements are available and two, the gas tax revenue can be pushed back into an economy that desperately needs stimulus.