Washington State Ballot Proposal Shows Why the Right Should Reject a Carbon Tax "Deal"

For several years, a small but vocal group of public intellectuals have urged conservatives and libertarians to support a carbon tax "deal," in which the Democratic Left will agree to reduced regulations and corporate tax relief, in exchange for a new carbon tax. The people pushing such a deal to the Right have gone so far as to say even if you think climate change isn't a big worry, nonetheless the right "carbon tax swap" will be good for the economy. I have written extensively on why these promises are false, for reasons of economic theory as well as political reality. (Here is my IER critique of carbon tax swap deals, and here is my recently published Cato study with climate scientists on problems with a carbon tax.) Yet we can also look at a recent Vox article discussing the drama behind Washington State's ballot initiative for a carbon tax, to see why conservatives and libertarians should have no business cutting a "deal" with the Democratic Left. The fact that the Vox piece is written by a supporter of carbon taxes shows this is not mere axe-grinding.