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Letter: Time for a carbon tax

For the Monitor

Monday, February 11, 2013

Re “From Gore, a grim warming” (Monitor editorial, Feb. 7):

In his new book, The Future, Al Gore notes that one effective way to reduce carbon emissions would be to implement a federal carbon tax. He also notes that any effort to enact legislation that puts a price on carbon has been blocked by professional anti-tax activists.

Would these professional anti-tax activists really prefer a regulatory approach to the problem of climate change? Would it not make more sense to implement a market-based approach that expands the use of clean energy and reduces emissions without heavy-handed edicts from Washington?

If you believe in limited government and are skeptical about the efficacy of federal regulations, why not embrace a carbon tax that’s offset by income and payroll tax reductions, or a carbon tax with all collected revenues returned to the public as a dividend? It’s hard to think of an easier solution.

DEVONE R. TUCKER

Brockton, Mass.

sail wrote:
13/02/2013

News Flash :a sentence from the IPCC Second Order Draft that seems to acknowledge a larger solar influence on climate than previously estimated: “[Results] do suggest the possibility of a much larger impact of solar variations on the stratosphere than previously thought, and some studies have suggested that this may lead to significant regional impacts on climate,” reads a draft copy of a major, upcoming report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Bruce_Currie wrote:
14/02/2013

At last! The latest cut and paste job from the deniosphere. And like all the other ones the poster has glued electronically, this one too makes astounding claims that upon further examination are exaggerated and inaccurate. None of them alter the scientific consensus that increasing amounts of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels are warming the planet, and are likely to have serious environmental consequences in the coming decades.

sail wrote:
13/02/2013

globul warming alarmists have already lost their right to continue to scare their low information ilk when the latest from the IPCC has proven them to be wrong again......quoting a sentence from the Second Order Draft t..... “[Results] do suggest the possibility of a much larger impact of solar variations on the stratosphere than previously thought, and some studies have suggested that this may lead to significant regional impacts on climate,” reads a draft copy of a major, upcoming report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
RabbitNH wrote:
13/02/2013

Tax Tax Tax. Mandate Mandate Mandate. The next killing of business will be the EPA, make no doubt about it. There is a reason jobs leave. Anybody who has any common sense can connect the dots. It is a stretch for the left to connect any dots. But then again, a party that believes big govt should take care of everything has not learned that the bigger govt gets, the more it costs and as a result business leaves. Too many mandates and too many taxes kills progress. That is why folks are leaving states like CA and others. Lessons in history are ignored it seems. As is Europe.
Bruce_Currie wrote:
13/02/2013

As usual, you don't supply any facts to support your suspect opinions. While the well-oiled right wing propaganda arm of Koch Industries and other far-right plutocrats has labored hard to make your screed seem like the conventional wisdom, it is not accurate or truthful. By and large, health and safety regulations speed innovation and efficiency. Financial regulations enacted in response to the Great Depression kept the nation from experiencing boom and bust cycles until their dismantling in the '90's. Our ratio of taxes to GDP is far lower than that of many other nations--many of which have more social mobility, and a fairer distribution of wealth than we do. 60% of the wealth generated over the last 3 decades has gone to less than 2% of the people, while the middle class has declined and wages for half the nation's citizens have remained stagnant or declined. This was no accident, nor was it the result of the 'best and brightest' getting their just deserts. It reflects 3 decades of deliberate dismantling by the plutocrats of those things that created the postwar boom and the middle class--fair labor laws, a regulated banking system, and a progressive tax structure.
TCB wrote:
13/02/2013

As v.s. another, in the rapidly growing list of tax burdens; (open, covert and taxes on the already taxed - approaching 50% of income) please feel free to have all who agree with you, donate your income to this meritorious cause. If you really believe in this - you must certainly be be willing to lend it your personal support. If not - why not?.
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