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

Filed Under Carbon Tax | Comments Off

 

“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

New Larson Bill Raises the Bar for Congressional Climate Action

Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off

Carbon taxing to safeguard Earth’s climate took several major steps forward — politically and intellectually — with the introduction yesterday of the America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009 by Rep. John B. Larson, chair of the House Democratic Caucus and fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives.

The new bill builds and improves on Rep. Larson’s 2007 bill with these provisions: Read more