Today, the Wall Street Journal editorial board expresses the common concern that a gas tax increase would not be offset by corresponding tax cuts, but would instead be consumed by increased government spending:

Speaking for ourselves, we don’t favor a carbon tax. In theory, such a tax might make sense if it were offset by lower taxes on income tax rates and capital investment–which would be a net plus for economic growth. However, there’s not a chance in melting Greenland that the current Congress would offset any new carbon taxes; it would merely pocket the extra revenue to permanently increase the government’s share of GDP.

The solution, I’ve argued, is to create a Federal Reserve for gas taxes:

[T]he government’s commitment to ensuring that people get a fair deal from a gas tax is not credible. Politicians have every incentive to take the extra revenues and put them toward more pork while taking back the accompanying tax cut over time. So why not have an independent Federal Reserve-type board of economists that’s responsible for adjusting the tax cut to maximize fuel efficiency without creating economic dislocation? The board could also be responsible for creating a yearly tax rebate that could be administered separately from the normal income tax system. That way people would see the proceeds from the gas tax coming back to them in a transparent way.

Isn’t this the only way to make the politics of a $1/gallon gas tax hike feasible?