Carbon tax floated in Washington
We should tax what we burn, not what we earn
Climate change is suddenly a hot topic again. The issue is resurfacing in talks about a once radical idea: a possible US carbon tax.
Recently a conservative think tank held discussions about it while a more liberal think tank released a paper on it. And the Congressional Budget Office issued a 19-page report on the different ways to make a carbon tax less burdensome on lower income people.
A carbon tax works by making people pay more for using fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas – including of course travel.
The whole issue of climate change was virtually absent during the presidential campaign until Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. The devastating and an election that led to Democratic gains have shoved global warming back into the conversation. So has the hunt for answers to a looming budget crisis.
All added to the New York governor Bloomberg putting his weight behind Obama saying that he is the only man that can deal with climate change see: https://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2003825
So the carbon tax idea has been revived by some on both the right and left and is suddenly appearing in newspaper and magazine opinion pieces and in quiet discussions.
Energy industry lobbyist Scott Segal said many utilities will fight a carbon tax. "The conditions are far from ripe for a carbon tax, if for no other reason than a carbon tax is a tax on economic growth."
But environmental advocates are seizing the moment, determined not to let the interest in climate change subside with the floodwaters.
On Wednesday, former Vice President Al Gore launches a 24-hour online talkfest about global warming and disasters. Another group, 350.org, headed by environmental advocate and author Bill McKibben, is in the midst of a 21-city bus tour.
Gore compared the link between extreme weather and "dirty energy" from coal, oil and natural gas to the links between cigarette smoking and lung cancer or the use of steroids and home runs in baseball.
"Mother Nature is speaking very loudly and clearly," Gore said in a phone interview from San Francisco. "The laws of physics do apply and when we put 90 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every day, it traps a lot of heat."
Gore said he’s been pushing a carbon tax for decades. But his idea is not to use the money to lower the deficit, but to reduce payroll taxes in a revenue-neutral way.
"We should tax what we burn, not what we earn," he said.
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