The main energy tax levied in the United States is the one on petroleum, though the United States tax is half of the amount levied in other major industrialized nations. As a result, gasoline prices in the United States are much lower than elsewhere, and both environmentalists and others have argued that this encourages energy consumption and environmental degradation and causes national and international security problems.

In 1993, the House passed a Btu tax while the Senate passed a more modest tax on transportation fuels. A Btu tax would restrict the burning of coal and other fossil fuels and proponents maintain that this would be both Environmentally and economically beneficial. Every barrel of oil and every ton of coal that is burned adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, increasing the likelihood that future generations will face a global climatic calamity. United States dependence on foreign oil, much...