Dec

7

Climate Change Policy Survey

Filed Under Cap and Trade, Carbon Tax | Comments Off

The U.S. Climate Task Force (CTF) and Future 500 recently released a new survey conducted by Hart Research, which demonstrates that a straightforward tax on carbon is the favorite policy option for addressing climate change among American voters.

The study, which was commissioned and paid for by Future 500, polled over 1,000 registered voters across the country and offers the first insight into the U.S. public’s opinion of cap and trade as well as other policy options, like a carbon tax.  The result

Mar

14

Imagine: A Harmonized, Global CO2 Tax

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“For more than 20 years, I have supported a CO2 tax, offset by an equal reduction in taxes elsewhere. However, a cap-and-trade system is also essential and actually offers a better prospect for a global agreement, in part because it is difficult to imagine a harmonized global CO2 tax. Moreover, I have long recognized that our political system has special difficulty in considering a CO2 tax even if it is revenue neutral.” — Al Gore, quoted in New York Times, House Bill for a Carbon Tax to Cut Emissions Faces a Steep Climb, March 7.

Let’s examine Mr. Gore’s points:

Harmonization:  Mr. Gore has raised a crucial concern: Any carbon-reduction policies the U.S. enacts must quickly go global. Acting alone or counter to other nations’ efforts will not suffice.

containership_pbo31_1.jpgIn their seminal report last February, “Policy Options for Reduction of CO2 Emissions,” Peter Orszag (now Budget Director) and Terry Dinan of the Congressional Budget Office meticulously compared cap-and-trade with carbon tax options. They concluded that a carbon tax would reduce emissions five times more efficiently, primarily because of price volatility under a fixed cap.

CBO had no difficulty “imagining a harmonized global carbon tax.” Chapter 3 of the Orszag-Dinan report, “International Consistency Considerations,” describes straightforward ways to harmonize carbon taxes. If nations choose different carbon tax rates, border tax adjustments permitted under World Trade Organization rules authorize higher-taxing nations to enact tariffs to equalize tax rates on imported products to the same levels applied to similar domestically-produced products.   Read more

Mar

9

Combating Global Climate Change: Why a Carbon Tax is a Better Response to Global Warming than Cap and Trade

Filed Under Carbon Tax, US Carbon Cap and Trade | Comments Off

Academic paper by:

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
University of Michigan - Law School

David M. Uhlmann
University of Michigan - Law School

Abstract:
Congress is likely to consider domestic climate change legislation during 2009, with a cap-and-trade system continuing to draw support from the Obama Administration and many leaders in Congress. Yet cap-and-trade regulations would take years for EPA to develop and implement, the desired price signal for carbon dioxide might be difficult to achieve until years later, and administration and enforcement of a comprehensive cap and trade system poses significant challenges. The urgency of the climate Read more

Mar

7

NYT On Dwindling Carbon Tax Hopes

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Basically the NYT piece says what Ive been saying all along.  A carbon tax is much easier for everyone to understand, and much more transparent and efficient than a cap and trade, but it has little chance of ever being implemented because its a “tax”.

NYT:

Many economists and academics, as well as a handful of Mr. Larson’s colleagues on both sides of the aisle and perhaps a few White House officials, if secretly, agree that a carbon tax is a simpler and more effective means of tackling global warming than the complex cap-and-trade scheme embraced by the Obama Read more

Mar

7

EU Official: Obama’s Carbon Cuts Fall Short

Filed Under Carbon Tax, US Carbon Cap and Trade | Comments Off

Jos Delbeke, the European Commission’s deputy director-general of the environment, told Reuters:

“I doubt whether that will bring us to the average required by developed countries. We in Europe would hope the US will do more than stabilisation of 1990 levels. I will not hide that.”

“The EU’s position is that developed countries, as a group, must cut 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.” Read more

Mar

7

Environmental Advocates Praise New Carbon Tax Bill

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Environmental groups and carbon pricing advocates lauded Representative John Larson (D-CT), who today introduced America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009, proposing a carbon tax to reduce carbon emissions and fight global warming.

The tax would take effect in 2009 and tax emissions at a rate of $15 per ton of carbon dioxide and increase by $10 each year (or by $15 each year if needed to keep emissions falling fast enough). It would be virtually revenue-neutral, with over 95% of carbon tax revenues used to cut payroll taxes to help Americans with higher energy prices.  Read more

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