By Matthew Vadum ——Bio and Archives--February 9, 2017
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
The insiders would impose a $40 per ton tax on carbon, and potentially increase it in the future. Conservatives on Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue oppose a carbon tax. […] At $40 per ton of carbon, the plan would raise $300 billion in revenue, and add 36 cents per gallon to gas prices. James Baker has said that they would reallocate the funds in the form of rebates, a family of four would receive $2,000 a year.James Baker is trying to sell the carbon tax as “something that does not increase, build government, that is conservative, that is free market.” Some right-of-center groups in Washington like the R Street Institute support carbon taxes, as Michael Bastasch and Steven J. Allen reported in the August 2013 issue of Green Watch. A handful of scholars at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) appear to favor such taxes.
The political choice facing the American people is in no small part that between a Republican Party that is anti-tax and pro-energy and a Democratic Party that is anti-energy and pro-tax. This clear product differentiation is an asset for the GOP. Republicans are truly the Dumb Party if they squander their energy advantage instead of pressing it to the hilt. Conservative advocacy of a carbon tax can only blur the battle lines, divide GOP leaders, and demoralize the movement’s activist base.
View Comments
Matthew Vadum, matthewvadum.blogspot.com, is an investigative reporter.
His new book Subversion Inc. can be bought at Amazon.com (US), Amazon.ca (Canada)
Visit the Subversion Inc. Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter.