Steve Glaser’s opinion piece is dead-on. A carbon tax is exactly what we need, and it shouldn’t be controversial.
In January 2019, a bipartisan group of economists, including our past four Federal Reserve chairs, endorsed a carbon “tax.” I call it a “fee,” as no money grows the government, all is returned equally in dividends to every citizen. In any event, those economists believed the tax and dividend needed to be accompanied by a border carbon adjustment, keeping American firms competitive in the global market. Today, this feature is more important than ever to enact, as the E.U. has ratified its own border carbon adjustment. This means if we don’t charge a carbon tax on our products exported to the E.U., we end up paying its border adjustment tax. That “export tax” would be a huge waste of money that otherwise would go to our citizens and grow our economy.
I hope Utah Rep. John Curtis and the Conservative Climate Caucus review the merits of this legislation. If so, maybe our Congress would enact such legislation in a bipartisan fashion and create the boon that Glaser talks about. Reduce carbon emissions and grow our economy. A win-win.
Jonathan Light
Laguna Niguel, California