Carbon taxes are in the news these days. The long -standing conservative opinion researcher and words of the word Frank Luntz recently carried out a survey on behalf of the Climate Leadership Council (CLC), a group under the direction of the high -ranking Republican State Men James Baker and George Shultz.
The CLC urges a “CO2 dividend” policy that introduces an increasing CO2 tax and reimburses the income directly to the taxpayers-and at the same time withdraws some (allegedly) unnecessary regulations. The CLC is supported by a PAC, Americans for Carbon Dividends, which is led by ex-senator lobbyists Trent Lott and John Breaux. (I wrote about the CLC proposal here.)
Luntz queried the CO2 dividend policy in May. It received two to one support among Republicans, four to one support a total of six to one support among republicans under 40 and eight to one support among swing voters under 40. When the voters were explained in focus groups, most of them came back.
In the first democratic debate on Wednesday, carbon taxes were also collected. Moderator Chuck Todd threw out this question: “Many of the climate plans in a way contain the taxation of carbon. Whether it is the state of Washington in which the voters have voted and they had the movement of the yellow vest and in Australia a party is rejected in Australia for fear of the costs of climate change. How do we pay if the pricing for carbon is politically impossible?”
John Delaney, a former congress member from Maryland, absolutely wanted to answer: “I introduced the only CO2 tax legislation, and economists believe that they work. They have to do it correctly. You cannot put a price of carbon and not return the money to the American people. My suggestion, which represents a prize for carbon, gives the American people back dividends.”
The presence of these suggestions indicates increased awareness and interest in carbon taxes. This now seems to be a good opportunity to check some of the basics.
Fortunately, the Center for Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University (in cooperation with several other research organizations) published a number of four research work in 2018 that cover these basics. Research did not show anything particularly shocking. It largely confirmed which political wonks have understood the dynamics of carbon taxes for a long time.
However, this dynamic is not necessarily well understood by the public. With the (slim but growing!) Opportunity that a federal carbon tax could be the subject of serious national debates, it is a good time for everyone to get up to date.
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