I agree with Russell Patterson’s recent opinion that a carbon tax is the best way to mitigate the effects of climate change.
We’re in good company.
In January of 2019, the past four Federal Reserve Chairs, 28 Nobel Laureate economists and over 3,600 other economists wrote a public letter to that effect. They said “a carbon tax offers the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary.” They suggested annual increases to this. They added a carbon border adjustment to keep our domestic businesses competitive in the global economy. They believed that “all the revenue collected needed to be returned directly to U.S. citizens through equal lump-sum rebates” or “carbon dividends.” These dividends would more than offset the higher cost for those who had smaller carbon footprints. It would make the polluters pay rather than society as a whole.
Today, oil companies are making record profits, while their produced fossil fuels wreak havoc on the planet. We citizens are paying for the devastation that climate related weather storms leave in their paths. We’re also paying for all the health issues carbon emissions cause. Let’s reverse this course with a carbon tax.
Jonathan Light
Laguna Niguel, CA