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Friday, February 10, 2017

Old-Guard Republicans Pitch Carbon-Tax Plan

A group of prominent Republicans and business leaders pitched a tax on carbon dioxide to top White House aides Wednesday, selling the plan as an economic win that could drive job growth and yield environmental dividends too.

Former Secretary of State James Baker and other members of the new "Climate Leadership Council" pressed the case in a 45-minute meeting in the Roosevelt Room that included President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Gary Cohn, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and senior aide Kellyanne Conway.

President Trump and a majority of the House of Representatives have come out against a carbon tax in the past year. But the idea of a carbon tax, long favored by economists as the most straightforward way to address climate change, could gain traction as part of a broad tax overhaul on Capitol Hill.

The blueprint involves a $40 tax on every metric ton of carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels, with the price climbing over time. To avoid an undue burden on the poor from the higher energy bills that would result, the projected $200 billion to $300 billion in annual revenue would be redistributed to households in the form of quarterly checks from the Social Security Administration. Families of four would see an average annual payout of $2,000 under the plan, they say.

The proposal also calls for border adjustments that would act to hike the costs of products imported from countries that do not put a price on carbon. The tax would be imposed at the point fossil fuels enter the economy, such as when oil leaves the refinery or coal leaves the mine. In exchange, regulations aimed at cutting emissions would be eliminated.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...


Just another transfer of wealth from those who work and pay
taxes to the welfare class. I'm not only going to pay for CO2
released in this country, but also going to pay thru the import
tax for those countries that choose not to control their CO2.

This does nothing to control amount of CO2 released but just
another tax on working class citizens.

Anonymous said...

Why all this crap. Just do the flat tax. It can't get any more simple and it keeps government out of our lives

Anonymous said...

9:25 it aims to hit producers where it hurts them the most, the $$$. The only reason we're so stuck to fossil fuels is the cost. Make it more profitable to invest in renewable energy and we can have a proactive country rather than a reactive one once the resources dry up. You and generations after you will complain when gas goes up to 5,10 15 dollars a gallon.

Anonymous said...

Don't they know this is a LIE...I say 'pitch them out' asap...

Anonymous said...

10.52

Producers only pass this tax along to consumers just as they
pass the subsidies for renewable energy along as a tax also.
Go back to school and learn how real capitalism works, Moron

Anonymous said...

No more taxes.