Powerful Representative John Dingell (D-MI) — known for his loyalty to the auto industry — stunned many when he joined the likes of Friends of the Earth and Al Gore by announcing his support for a carbon tax. Today, he backed up his words of support with the outline of a bill that would make polluters pay by instituting the tax - and he’s seeking public input.
While the rate at which Dingell’s bill taxes carbon is too low to encourage the kind of carbon-cutting we need to stop global warming, the bill represents a serious legislative attempt to use a direct tax to fight global warming. Friends of the Earth believes we must generate as much support for this seedling as possible, so that even if it doesn’t pass now, its death won’t become a cautionary tale for potential advocates in future Congresses.
Why a carbon tax?
Immediacy: Not only will a carbon tax put a price on carbon emissions sooner than the complex “cap and trade” proposals currently under consideration, but a carbon tax is also less likely to get bogged down in litigation after it is enacted.
Clarity: The reason many economists support the carbon tax - including some on the Right - is that it produces a predictable and egalitarian environment for carbon emitters. The production of X amount of carbon will cost $Y in taxes, every time for everyone. It will be much harder for polluters to find loopholes with a tax than with other approaches.
Efficacy: A carbon tax that ratchets up each year, faster than the rate of inflation, will make carbon-cutting an increasingly necessary focus of industry. Corporations and their shareholders will pay a price if they do not act today in order to ensure their businesses’ ability to remain competitive after the tax really starts growing.
Moving a carbon tax forward is an uphill political battle, and President Bush would likely veto this bill should it actually make it through this Congress (which, frankly, is not likely). This makes it all the more essential that Rep. Dingell and the rest of Congress witness a passionate, mobilized constituency supporting this approach to stopping global disaster. We cannot let this attempt to enact sound policy become the excuse for avoiding it under a future Congress and White House.
Submit your comments on the Dingell bill quickly and easily by clicking here.
IMPORTANT NOTE: One component that any carbon tax bill must have - as the Dingell bill does - is a way of offsetting for the poor the costs they incur from the tax. The downside of taxing consumption directly is that it can punish the poor who have no choice but to consume - such as a single mother whose economic circumstance forces her to drive a gasoline-powered car to the only job available. Friends of the Earth will not support a bill without such considerations and neither should you.
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