The recent sharp drop in the price of crude oil, coal and other fossil fuels provides an opening for governments to raise energy taxes, because any increase would have a much smaller impact on consumers than it would have had a year ago. In the United States, states like Iowa and Utah have raised gasoline taxes to help pay for road repairs. Congress should also raise the federal excise tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 cents on diesel, which has not been increased since 1993, and use the money for road, bridge and transit projects.