On this matter, I am a fan of Al Gore's sound bite "We should tax what we burn, not what we earn."

I am not in favor of using that money for any specific purpose other than displacing the need for taxes that discourage behavior that should be encouraged – like reducing the disincentive for people to begin earning money in the normal economy. I am especially not a fan of directing any energy tax revenues back to energy companies in the form of subsidies to help them do alternative energy research. The overall incentive for success in finding a solution is just not there, but the incentive to do "research" is very strong.

Slightly off topic, but I have been associated with enough people in the lower rungs of the economic ladder to know that many prefer to take the risk of working in the underground economy to having 15-20% of their paychecks withheld by the government. Here in the States, nearly 15% of the very first dollar earned goes to the government. (We have a system that makes that look smaller by calling half of it the "employer contribution" but those of us who have been self employed know the real story.)