R Street Offers No “Bargain” on Carbon At All

A new report from R Street tries to convince conservatives that they should embrace a "carbon bargain" involving a new carbon tax, so long as several important principles are obeyed. Specifically, R Street insists that a new carbon tax be revenue neutral, with the funds devoted exclusively to reducing capital taxes, and it also insists that "[p]re-emption of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and other efforts--including CAFE standards, fuel taxes, the renewable fuel standard, the investment and production tax credits, efficiency standards and restrictions on fossil resource development--would be a necessary prerequisite." So long as the deal included these (and some other) elements, R Street promises conservatives that a new carbon tax would actually be good for the economy, as well as correcting possible market failures from greenhouse gas emissions.