| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
03 Apr 2007 06:50:04 PM |
| Object: |
Some say carbon tax simpler way to curb emissions |
Some say carbon tax simpler way to curb emissions
By JULIET EILPERIN and STEVEN MUFSON
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - As lawmakers on Capitol Hill push for a cap-and-trade
system to rein in the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, an unlikely
alternative has emerged from an ideologically diverse group of
economists and industry leaders: a carbon tax.
Most legislators view advocating any tax increase as tantamount to
political suicide. But a coalition of academics and polluters now
argues that a simple tax on each ton of emissions would offer a more
efficient and less bureaucratic way of curbing carbon dioxide buildup,
which many scientists have linked to climate change.
''We want to do the least damage to the growth of GDP,'' said Michael
Canes, a private consultant and former chief economist for the
American Petroleum Institute, who led a Capitol Hill briefing on the
subject in late February sponsored by the conservative George C.
Marshall Institute. Between a cap system and a carbon tax, ''a carbon
tax will be the much more cost-effective way to go,'' he said, though
he added that there are other ways to reduce emissions.
Robert J. Shapiro, a private consultant who was a Commerce Department
official in the Clinton administration, agrees. A cap-and-trade system
-- involving plant-by-plant measurements -- would be difficult to
administer, he said, and would provide ''incentives for cheating and
evasion.'' And the revenue from a carbon tax could be used to reduce
the deficit or finance offsetting cuts in payroll taxes or the
alternative minimum tax.
A carbon tax offers certainty about the price of polluting, which
appeals to many economists and businesses. William A. Pizer, a senior
fellow at the centrist think tank Resources for the Future and a
former senior economist for President Bush's Council of Economic
Advisers, estimates that the benefit-to-cost ratio of a tax-based
system would be five times that of a cap-and-trade system.
''You're going to pay one way or another, whether it's a tax or a
permit program,'' Pizer said, adding that while a cap would provide
more certainty on how much emissions would be cut, ''the consequences
of being uncertain about emissions over any short period of time just
aren't that serious.''
Under a cap-and-trade system, the government would set an overall
limit on emissions and allocate permits to emitters. If one plant
reduces its emissions more quickly than another, it can sell its
credits to the other emitter. A carbon tax would simply increase the
cost of emitting each ton of carbon, which could then be passed on to
consumers.
While Democrats have vowed to push through some sort of carbon dioxide
control in this Congress, Bush has consistently opposed mandatory
limits, so it remains unclear whether the United States will adopt any
system before the next election.
Moreover, the fact that many economists back the tax approach is no
guarantee that it will prevail over the five cap-and-trade plans
already proposed in the Senate.
The complexity of the cap-and-trade system is part of its virtue for
some politicians, since it may mask the system's impact on prices.
Such a system also appeals to conservative lawmakers who like the idea
of letting the market determine the price of carbon, while keeping
revenue out of the hands of government. Some economists say it would
channel capital to the most economically worthwhile projects first.
Environmentalists are split on a carbon tax. Fred Krupp, president of
Environmental Defense, which is handing out baseball caps emblazoned
with the slogan ''Just Cap It'' on Capitol Hill, called such a tax
''an interesting distraction.''
''It doesn't give us the guarantee the emissions will go down,'' he
said.
But Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said: ''It will
be more effective if people know that in year 'X' they will pay this
much. Companies are highly motivated by costs.'' Moreover, he worries
that rationing carbon allowances based on historical emissions would
reward companies that spew out the most greenhouse gases now and did
the least to limit them in the past.
Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's program on global warming,
said the nation may need to adopt a carbon tax in several years but
''we're not there yet.''
Some industries that have historically opposed carbon limits embrace
the idea of a tax because their sectors would not be singled out for
regulation. ''A poorly constructed cap-and-trade system can be as
punitive as a regressive tax,'' said Scott Segal, an electric
utilities lobbyist.
Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, told a
National Press Club audience in February that his industry prefers
that lawmakers explore a range of policy options before imposing a
cap.
''A cap-and-trade system isn't necessarily the be-all and end-all,''
he said. ''A carbon tax, everything, should be on the table from the
beginning.''
Few lawmakers, Democrat or Republican, have the stomach for a carbon
tax, however. Some are still smarting from a vote in the early 1990s
when President Clinton persuaded the House to adopt a BTU tax -- a tax
on the heat content of fuels -- only to abandon the effort in the
Senate.
Democrats such as House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J.
Rahall II, W.Va., say they have no desire to revisit the issue. ''I'm
not an advocate of a carbon tax,'' Rahall said. ''That's going to be
passed on; the consumer would end up paying for that.''
Some analysts said former Vice President Al Gore's endorsement of both
alternatives in testimony before Congress last week was so politically
unpalatable that it was a sign that he is not seriously thinking of
running for president.
Only one House Democrat, Rep. Pete Stark, of Hayward, has drafted a
carbon tax proposal. Stark, who first proposed such a tax 16 years ago
as a way to ease the nation's energy crunch, plans to introduce a bill
in April that would levy a tax of $25 per ton of carbon released for
five years.
''It's more efficient, more equitable, and it's less subject to
gaming, I might add,'' Stark said, estimating that it would raise the
cost of gasoline by 10 cents a gallon.
As Congress debates how to regulate greenhouse gases, however, several
European officials have said it would be a mistake to choose anything
but a market-based trading system that could be linked to the emerging
carbon market in Europe.
''Political leaders in the United States need to make a decision, and
make it quickly, whether they want to be left behind in a market that
is going to evolve, or whether they want to get involved quickly,''
said Stephen Byers, a member of Britain's Parliament who helped
establish the European Union's trading system.
''Wall Street could become the world center of carbon trading.''
And Stavros Dimas, the E.U. environment commissioner, speaking at a
recent lunch hosted by the D.C.-based European Institute, called it
ironic that the United States would question the cap-and-trade system,
because U.S. negotiators essentially forced Europe to agree to such a
system in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations in 1997.
''There was suspicion about market-based instruments,'' Dimas said.
''In a way you did us a favor, because now we also are familiar with
these market-based activities. It's functioning very well, actually.''
''If we would go together into a world tax regime, that would be
preferable,'' Jos Delbeke, the top E.U. official on climate change,
said after a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing
last week. ''But practically speaking, it is not a likely way to go.
Emissions trading is a very solid second best.''
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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| User: "Taylor" |
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| Title: Re: Some say carbon tax simpler way to curb emissions |
04 Apr 2007 08:19:18 AM |
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"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> wrote in message
news:4sp5131mrl5rgbi21nffnep9pluqimld6a@4ax.com...
Some say carbon tax simpler way to curb emissions
By JULIET EILPERIN and STEVEN MUFSON
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - As lawmakers on Capitol Hill push for a cap-and-trade
system to rein in the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, an unlikely
alternative has emerged from an ideologically diverse group of
economists and industry leaders: a carbon tax.
"Unlikely"? We knew that was what Gore and the chicken-little environwackos
and their Democrats in Congress were after all along!!!
.
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| User: "hopeful" |
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| Title: Re: Some say carbon tax simpler way to curb emissions |
04 Apr 2007 08:28:45 AM |
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"Taylor" <123@456.com> wrote in message
news:4613a5e2$0$4878$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> wrote in message
news:4sp5131mrl5rgbi21nffnep9pluqimld6a@4ax.com...
"Unlikely"? We knew that was what Gore and the chicken-little
environwackos and their Democrats in Congress were after all along!!!
Hey do not leave out those evil speculators that support the Republicans.
Just look at the gasoline and natural gas prices to see the effect of these
greedy people. There are no shortages of either but the flunkies in
Congress allow these parasites to rake in billions for no reason. Can you
imagine the market in these "cotwo" credits and any other way to flimflam
the silly fools that "invest" in the environment. Hell you will probably
see foundations created by these wealthy parasites to handle these credits
and such things as planting trees on their ocean front properties to help
the planet. Ever hear of the Nature Conservancy selling prime property in
order to save prime property?
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| User: "Server 13" |
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| Title: Re: Some say carbon tax simpler way to curb emissions |
04 Apr 2007 10:21:48 AM |
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"Taylor" <123@456.com> wrote in message
news:4613a5e2$0$4878$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> wrote in message
news:4sp5131mrl5rgbi21nffnep9pluqimld6a@4ax.com...
Some say carbon tax simpler way to curb emissions
By JULIET EILPERIN and STEVEN MUFSON
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - As lawmakers on Capitol Hill push for a cap-and-trade
system to rein in the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, an unlikely
alternative has emerged from an ideologically diverse group of
economists and industry leaders: a carbon tax.
"Unlikely"? We knew that was what Gore and the chicken-little
environwackos and their Democrats in Congress were after all along!!!
lol Must be a republican.
.
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