Congressional candidate Colleen Callahan is proposing a cut in the gas tax to be replaced with heavier taxes on oil companies. The oil companies will pass those increased costs onto consumers, resulting in little to no net difference in the price at the pump.

The solution is not cutting gas taxes or taxing oil companies more — the solution is to reduce demand. One way is to come up with alternative fuel sources. But there’s another, more basic problem, and Callahan inadvertently expressed it when she said:

“In central Illinois, we need our cars and trucks to get to our jobs, take our children to school or our families to the doctor. The automobile is not a luxury for us, it’s a necessity.”

This is sadly the case. Because of the way the city has sprawled and the lack of accommodation for other forms of transportation (pedestrian, bicyclist, public transit), traveling by car is indeed a necessity in Peoria. If you want to save gas money by walking or biking to work, or taking the bus, it’s largely impractical if not impossible, especially the further north you go. In many places, it’s downright dangerous.

Until we do something about that, all the token gas-tax reduction and oil company tax threats in the world aren’t going to improve our situation.