Friday, March 08, 2019

Carbon Tax Plans:  How They Compare and Why Oil Giants Support One of Them

Two plans gaining traction would both put a price on fossil fuel pollution and send revenue back to taxpayers as dividends.  Only one has big oil companies on board.


There are significant differences between the carbon tax proposal backed by Big Oil and the approaches backed by environmental activists, including whether the industry would be protected from climate lawsuits and other regulations. (Credit: Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images) Click to Enlarge.
Not long ago, a carbon tax was the untouchable third rail of climate politics.

"We have done extensive polling on carbon tax.  It all sucks," John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, wrote to another adviser in a memorable January 2015 email from the Wikileaks stash.

But four years later, amid the political upheaval wrought by President Donald Trump, several carbon tax proposals are getting a serious look on Capitol Hill.  Ironically, the president's rejection of climate science and his fossil fuel-focused agenda may have helped usher in an era when carbon taxation is politically thinkable.

Read more at Carbon Tax Plans:  How They Compare and Why Oil Giants Support One of Them

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