by Steve Milloy, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow and Junkscience.com Founder
As Appearing on RealClear Markets
Many of America’s corporate and academic elites have united to advocate for a carbon tax.
With all the money and brains behind the self-anointed “Climate Leadership Council” (CLC) you would think it would be able to figure out ¾ the math is simple ¾ that a carbon tax will have no effect on climate. There are reasons they haven’t.
The CLC is undertaking a media and lobbying blitz to push for a $40-per-ton national carbon tax, escalating by 5% per year. The CLC calls this “the most cost-effective, environmentally ambitious and politically viable climate solution.”
A $40 carbon tax would immediately raise the price of oil by $17, or to about 133% of today’s prices. We’re told not to fret the price increase because the government will remit the tax back to taxpayers as a “carbon dividend.” Most consumers will get back more money via the dividend than they paid in the tax, says the CLC.
