Carbon Tax

EARLY WEDNESDAY, delivering his victory speech in Chicago, President Obama elevated an issue that had hardly come up during the campaign. "We want our children to live in an America," he said, "that isn't threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet. " Later that day, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that climate change is an important issue and that he wants to "address it reasonably" — particularly following big storms in the Northeast that have highlighted rising sea levels and other dangers associated with...

While I admire advocacy for untangling the country's tax code, The Post's mash-up of tax reform, tax revenue and the carbon tax is problematic [" Tax reform on the table ," editorial, May 8]. The Post rightly acknowledged that, under a carbon tax, "polluters pay for their own pollution" and emissions fall, but it forgot the intent: creating a less carbon-intense economy. Overreliance on gasoline taxes and increased automobile fuel efficiency have put a pothole in state transportation budgets.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee, announced last month that he wants to spend the rest of his final term in office reforming the tax code , and there are signs that Republicans want an overhaul this year, too. Good. The tax code is an unruly, inefficient monstrosity that only tax attorneys could like. Congress has used it as a vehicle for interest-group giveaways and other forms of wasteful, underhanded policymaking that unwisely distort the economy.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee, announced last month that he wants to spend the rest of his final term in office reforming the tax code , and there are signs that Republicans want an overhaul this year, too. Good. The tax code is an unruly, inefficient monstrosity that only tax attorneys could like. Congress has used it as a vehicle for interest-group giveaways and other forms of wasteful, underhanded policymaking that unwisely distort the economy.

While I admire advocacy for untangling the country's tax code, The Post's mash-up of tax reform, tax revenue and the carbon tax is problematic [" Tax reform on the table ," editorial, May 8]. The Post rightly acknowledged that, under a carbon tax, "polluters pay for their own pollution" and emissions fall, but it forgot the intent: creating a less carbon-intense economy. Overreliance on gasoline taxes and increased automobile fuel efficiency have put a pothole in state transportation budgets.

The Dec. 31 editorial " California's climate-change experiment " did a good job highlighting some of the pitfalls of California's cap-and-trade law. Another core problem with that law is that, while the cap on greenhouse gas emissions is fixed, the price for those emissions is not. Without a predictable price signal, the private market will not invest in the innovative solutions that would effectively slash the use of fossil fuels. A better approach would be to impose a defined carbon tax on the fossil-fuel suppliers, with a set annual...

GOTEBORG, Sweden -- Sweden urged other European nations on Friday to follow its lead in linking new taxes to greenhouse gas emissions as governments seek additional sources of income in the wake of the financial crisis. Denmark, Finland and Slovenia already have taxes on household carbon emissions that can add costs to heating and electricity use. France is planning to plug part of its swelling budget gap with a new carbon tax that could bring in an extra euro1.5 billion next year.

Here's a riddle: If Congress doesn't want to raise income tax rates but wants to raise revenue, what can it do? One answer: Pass a carbon tax. A relatively moderate-sized carbon tax could raise $1.25 trillion over the next decade, a huge chunk of the money needed to bring the federal budget deficit under control. And the idea is getting a closer look now that the election is over and the "fiscal cliff" is looming. Because it would tax fossil fuel use, the carbon tax pleases...

CONSUMERS AREN'T paying nearly enough for their energy, and that's a massive problem for the planet. Big Middle Eastern oil exporters hold the price of gasoline within their countries well below what it should be. Ukraine does the same with natural gas. In sub-Saharan Africa, electricity prices are artificially lowered. The United States isn't the worst actor — but it, too, is far from clean. In the most thorough accounting yet of what people pay for their electricity, petroleum, natural gas and coal, the International...

PRESIDENT OBAMA began his second term with a promise to push harder on energy and climate change. The events of the past week remind us that he won't have to contend just with Republicans and coal-state Democrats determined to oppose reasonable measures to combat global warming. He will also have to sidestep environmentalists demanding that he fight the wrong battles. Last Friday, the State Department released a new draft analysis of the Keystone XL oil pipeline , opposition to which has become a...

CONSUMERS AREN'T paying nearly enough for their energy, and that's a massive problem for the planet. Big Middle Eastern oil exporters hold the price of gasoline within their countries well below what it should be. Ukraine does the same with natural gas. In sub-Saharan Africa, electricity prices are artificially lowered. The United States isn't the worst actor — but it, too, is far from clean. In the most thorough accounting yet of what people pay for their electricity, petroleum, natural gas and coal, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

It's often said that Democrats want to raise taxes while Republicans want to cut entitlements. That's not quite right. If they have to do something, Democrats would rather raise taxes (on rich people and oil companies) while Republicans would rather cut entitlements (for some distantly future retirees). But Democrats have wealthy donors. Republicans have elderly constituents. Left to their own devices, both parties would neither raise taxes nor cut entitlements. They would come together, in other words,...

The Senate adopted on Saturday a proposal that would modestly reduce the U.S. debt through higher taxes for top earners, part of the first budget plan the Democratic-controlled body has passed in four years. The $3.7 trillion budget proposal highlights differences between Democrats and Republicans over taxes, spending and the size of government. The vote clears the way for the next phase of Washington's budget battle, which will probably revolve around the need to raise the U.S. debt limit.

While philosophers have debated the question in broad terms for centuries, I'm happy to report that we can now definitively quantify the difference between a pinko communist dystopia in which the leviathan state crushes the very soul of freedom, and a neanderthal right-wing hellscape in which the poor, frail or otherwise unlucky fight for whatever crumbs John Galt cares to spill. It's about 4 cents on the national dollar. That is, it's the difference between a federal government that spends about 19 percent of gross domestic...

Regarding the March 5 editorial " The wrong fight ": The Keystone XL pipeline has galvanized climate activists not merely because it is a tangible symbol of the threat fossil fuels pose to the planet but also because it puts into clear perspective the ethics of participating in a scheme that offers a short-term, large private profit at long-term, larger public expense. The Post argued that the Canadian oil company behind the pipeline will find another way to get its oil to world markets if the United States stands in its way, so we...

PRESIDENT OBAMA began his second term with a promise to push harder on energy and climate change. The events of the past week remind us that he won't have to contend just with Republicans and coal-state Democrats determined to oppose reasonable measures to combat global warming. He will also have to sidestep environmentalists demanding that he fight the wrong battles. Last Friday, the State Department released a new draft analysis of the Keystone XL oil pipeline , opposition to which has become a counterproductive obsession...

Regarding the May 18 editorial "Cold Reality": By advocating a carbon tax in lieu of an effective cap-and-trade program, The Post obscured essential facts about climate change legislation. First, a carbon tax fails the environmental effectiveness test. Some companies would undoubtedly pay the tax rather than lower emissions, and the cost of the tax could be passed on to consumers. Second, it fails the political test. With the country looking to emerge from its economic struggles, it is unlikely that any legislation involving a new tax will be...

"THE NATURAL-GAS boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence," President Obama declared in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. "That's why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. " New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), Maryland Democrats and other friends of Mr. Obama should listen up. The president is right. The United States sits atop seas of natural gas, a fuel that drives electric turbines, warms homes, heats water and even powers some big trucks.

WHAT IF THERE were a policy that could cut future deficits, slash taxes, eliminate wasteful government spending and reduce climate change? As sequestration kicks in, you'd think every politician in Washington would be desperate to embrace such a win-win-win-win. Last week the Brookings Institution's Adele Morris laid out what an intelligent tax on carbon emissions could accomplish, and the results will astonish anyone — seemingly much of Congress — who hasn't given the idea the consideration it deserves.

"THE NATURAL-GAS boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence," President Obama declared in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. "That's why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. " New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), Maryland Democrats and other friends of Mr. Obama should listen up. The president is right. The United States sits atop seas of natural gas, a fuel that drives electric turbines, warms homes, heats water and even...