Opinions
Dissecting the Carbon Tax; Prevous views reconsidered
As the country grapples with economic havoc, some are pointing to carbon taxes as a potential solution to the government's revenue shortage. Carbon taxes might be "better" than cap-and-trade or regulations, but then, in a train-wreck, losing a hand is better than losing a forearm, which is better than losing an entire arm. Most would rather skip the wreck. Even in flush economic times, carbon taxes would be bad policy. When economies are already laboring under too much spending, and are at diminishing-return levels of taxation, implementing a carbon tax would be a mistake.
August 19, 2011
by Ken Green
in RenewablesBiz
Back in 2007, along with my colleagues Steve Hayward and Kevin Hassett, I co-authored a policy study examining the possibilities of a carbon tax or carbon cap-and-trade. The findings of that study were that a revenue-neutral carbon tax was better than cap-and-trade, which would be better than regulation.
For co-authoring that study, my friends in the more purist domains of the "free market movement," lambasted me for playing into the hands of an insincere green movement. At the time, I thought they were going overboard. I naively thought that a revenue-neutral carbon tax might be possible, and if done right, might... [continue via Web link]
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