Economist Steve Affinito said Murphy's ranks may be growing. "Clearly there are limits to the amount of economizing that typical Americans can do to lower their gasoline bills," Affinito said. "Less driving and buying a more fuel-efficient car are the major ones, but in many cases people can't replace their car. A gasoline tax credit for consumers would help."

Gasoline tax credit
Currently, citizens cannot deduct personal gasoline purchases from their U.S. income tax, Affinito said, which means each increase in the price of gasoline "removes exactly that much money from disposal income."

"It's a real economic deflater, and we know exactly the impact higher gasoline prices will have on the economy. It reduces GDP growth. Once gasoline gets above a certain level, people cut back on discretionary purchases to buy the gas they need," Affinito said. "Things like restaurants, clothing, movies, other entertainment expenses, trips to the mall, day trips...they all get cut back, and the result is, the economy slows."

Affinito said some dimensions of the U.S. economy benefit from a higher gasoline price -- sales of high MPG vehicle cars always see a substantial increase in traffic, as do mass transit systems, but the net effect on the U.S. economy is decidedly negative. "Higher gasoline prices will take at least 0.5-0.7 percentage points off U.S. GDP this year, after you add up all of the lateral sectors," Affinito said.

Further, with the U.S.'s average price of unleaded regular gasoline about $3.13 as of February 25, according to the -- and likely to go higher, Affinito believes "U.S. consumers have permanently reduced their consumption patterns to compensate for gasoline's higher price," guaranteeing slower economic growth ahead. And look for consumers' cutbacks to intensify if gasoline approaches $4 per gallon this summer, he said.

Conversely, a gasoline tax credit would reverse that trend, if it was large enough, Affinito argued.

"If Congress passed a $200-$400 per year gasoline tax credit, one that's deducted directly from your federal tax obligation, that would offset the contraction effect that higher gasoline prices have on the U.S. economy," Affinito. "And it would provide a tax deduction to those who are most hurt by higher gas prices, low and moderate-income tax payers."

Doesn't like the idea

Rose Tricarico of Pelham, NY, a retired senior citizen, said she doesn't like the idea. "I think it would be unfair to us older folks who sacrificed when gasoline prices were high in the 1970s. Why do we have to have the government subsidize it now? They didn't subsidize us, " Tricarico said.

Economist David H. Wang agreed. Wang said a federal gasoline tax credit "may actually do more harm than good, from an energy use and economic standpoint."

"On the one hand, it would help those who are hit hard by the high price of gasoline, and they would have more income to spend," Wang said. "On the other hand, drivers may end up not cutting back their driving, and drive more. That would keep gasoline demand up, keeping the price up longer too, and result in the United States using more gasoline. Given current gasoline consumption levels, does the nation want to subsidize gasoline consumption? I don't know if it would have enough political support.

"Murphy, a civil engineer by trade, isn't sure of the Washington politics either, but he's going to find out from his Congressional representative.

"I'm not a politically active type, more an Independent than anything else, but getting gasoline bills the size of mini- mortgage payments just made me one," Murphy said.