Plunging Gas Prices Boost SUV and Truck Sales, Spike Interest in Gas Tax

Trucks and sport utility vehicles will outsell cars for the first time since February, according to a report by Edmunds.com, which tracks industry statistics. Experts attribute the reversal to the plunging gas prices which fell to $1.61 today, the lowest levels in nearly five years.

Toyota has already slowed production of the industry's flagship hybrid vehicle, the Prius, due to declining interest.

These trends suggests that the issue of fuel efficiency has faded in the minds of many consumers, which has led to renewed talk of a new or heavily increased gas tax to help shift America to a green economy. A gasoline tax "is not just win-win; it's win, win, win, win, win," says the Johns Hopkins author and foreign policy specialist Michael Mandelbaum in the New York Times . "A gasoline tax would do more for American prosperity and strength than any other measure Obama could propose." Read more in the Daily Press.