Carbon Tax Bill Introduced in US Congress
A week ago, Rep. John B. Larson introduced the America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009 in the US Congress. The bill which has evolved from its previous version has advocated a nationwide carbon tax in addition to an ‘equivalent’ tax on the imported carbon intensive goods. The bill also proposes to neutralize the impact on the working class by giving out carbon tax rebate.
Calls for a carbon tax have been increasing ever since President Obama took office. In order to achieve energy independence and reducing carbon emissions due to the country’s ‘historical responsivbility’, President Obama proposed the implementation of cap and trade scheme. The administration feels that such a scheme would not only check the nation’s carbon emissions but would also generate much needed income.
The European Union also proposed that the Clean Developments Mechanism be replaced by a global carbon tax. Citing the drawbacks of CDM, like lack of transparency and beaurcratic delays, the EU proposed that a carbon tax seems to be the simplest and most effective method to meet emission targets and help getting developing countries access to the clean technologies.
Calls for a carbon tax also echoed at The International Scientific Conference on Climate Change held at Copenhagen, Denmark. William Nordhaus, professor of economics at Yale university, and James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said that it was time that the world leaders must start thinking about carbon tax if they wish to reach a consensus over the future emission reduction deal.
The new bill introduced in the US Congress is in addition to the many initiatives take by the Obama administration which would put immense pressure on developing countries like China and India to agree to mandatory emission reductions. But these measures could very well see some severe opposition back home. Levying new tax during an economic recession seems to be a highly unpopular approach.
Some of the measures proposed in the new bill are:
- Carbon tax of $15 per ton of carbon dioxide from year 2009.
- Increment of $10 every year for five years.
- Increment of $15 every year after five years if emission reductions are not in sync with the 2050 target of 80 percent reduction 2005 levels.
- Levying a ”carbon equivalency fee” on all imported carbon intensive goods from countries which do not have national carbon tax.
- Investments in clean technologies would get tax credits worth $10 billion every year.
- Tax rebates provided to individual and industries to neutralize any loss income due to the tax.
The bill, which would make the United States popular and project it as a leader in addressing environmental problems, would also affect its own people, with some claiming that the low income families would be the hardest hit and that the rebate programs included in the bill would not be enough to counter their financial losses.
However, there are many who feel that even if carbon tax might not be the most popular, it seems to be the most efficient tool at our disposal at this time. The Chief Executive of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, voiced his support to a national carbon tax scheme.
It is feared that if no consensus is build around a single scheme to cut emissions the talks for the next climate treaty would fail. Continuing with Clean Development Mechanism is not an option especially after the UN admitted that it does have flaws. Cap and trade would help cutting emissions at one place but would also give the license to emit the same amount of emissions elsewhere.
The world has experimented with offsetting and has has witnessed its failure now the world leaders must come together and agree to a global carbon tax. The carbon tax is by far the most transparent method of cutting carbon emissions. But the question is that will other countries agree to a global carbon tax and more importantly, will the US public approve of a carbon tax at this time.
Image: nixter (Creative Commons)
[...] statements came almost a week after a carbon tax bill was introduced in the US Congress which called for levying an ‘carbon equivalency fee’ on imported products, in addition [...]
[...] statements came almost a week after a carbon tax bill was introduced in the US Congresswhich called for levying an ‘carbon equivalency fee’ on imported products, in addition to the [...]
It is true that a carbon tax adds to the cost of domestic goods and thus has a decided anti-competitive feature. However, just as Larson has proposed making the carbon tax revenue neutral to consumers, the cost impact of a carbon tax on domestic industrial users also can be neutralized. We would “recycle” the carbon tax revenue imbedded in their products back to them—but not in direct proportion to their carbon emissions. That way the anti-competitive cost impact is offset while the incentive for efficiency/alternative fuels remains. This would also save us from the competing idea of imposing fees on imports to offset the carbon tax they did not pay.
[...] government can infuse money into these project on its own, eventually there would be some kind of carbon tax or cap and trade scheme to raise money for these cash intensive projects. In addition, America has [...]
[...] the government to distribute emission permits to the industries free of cost. A bill proposing a nationwide carbon tax was also introduced in the US Congress but experts fear that, if implemented, the bill would put a [...]
I think the main question we need to be asking is: Why is there even an existence of a carbon tax? You guys do know that man-made global warming has been proven to be a hoax to enact right-enfringing bills such as this, right? Let me ask you a simple question: How is making something as natural as C02 which plants NEED to make food and is one of the four building blocks for life on this planet, Natural? Do the research and you will see what i’m talking about. Also, why is it that the polar ice caps on mars are melting and we’re not even on that planet!