i have always thought the reason the western european economies (particularly the UK) absorb the very high tax on petrol is 1) avg. distance goods travel by truck is much lower and 2) you have a functional mass transit AND inter-city transit system. If we had 9.50/gln gas here we would not have an economy.
"1) avg. distance goods travel by truck is much lower and 2) you have a functional mass transit AND inter-city transit system"
That does make a lot of sense.