Saturday, March 7, 2009

House Bill for a Carbon Tax to Cut Emissions Faces a Steep Climb

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/us/politics/07carbon.html?ref=politics
Representative John B. Larson embarked again this week on his lonely quest to enact a national tax on carbon dioxide emissions.

His idea is to set a modest price on a ton of emissions, gradually increasing it each year until the desired reduction in heat-trapping-gas pollution is achieved. Under the bill he introduced this week, virtually all the revenues from the tax would be returned to the public in lower payroll taxes.

"The American people want us to level with them," Mr. Larson, a moderate Democrat from Connecticut and a member of the House leadership, said in an interview. "We create price certainty without any new bureaucracies or complicated auction schemes."