May 19, 2021
WHICH IS WHY IT DRIVES CHANGE:
Carbon pricing is an economic bomb and a tax on everything (GREGORY ZERZAN, 5/18/21, The Hill)
A "carbon price" is designed to make carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions more expensive in one of two ways.1) One is a direct tax applied to the manufacture or consumption of anything that releases CO2 into the atmosphere. That's a new tax not only on coal and gas, but also on manufacturing, agriculture, construction and essentially every other productive human activity that releases CO2.2) The other method of carbon pricing is through a cap-and-trade market. The government establishes an "acceptable" level of CO2 emissions and issues transferable credits allowing holders to emit carbon up to that limit.Over time, the government can reduce the number of credits available, theoretically leading to a corresponding reduction in CO2. A carbon trading scheme is a tax paid by companies making the highest bid for the right to pollute.Since virtually all productive activity requires energy and generates CO2, many businesses would pay the tax to government, and likely pass it on to consumers. Americans won't merely feel the pinch at the pump -- a carbon price will increase the cost of everything from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the homes we buy.
carbon use will continue to fall so quickly that the tax is not a long term fiscal fix. Consumption needs to be taxed more broadly. But it's a good way to speed the transition to renewables.
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 19, 2021 7:29 AM