I received the Carbon Tax Center's first newsletter yesterday: An Inconvenient Tax. Here are some excerpts:
In just two short months the Carbon Tax Center ("CTC") has established a strong presence in Washington DC, New York City, within the environmental community and throughout the Blogosphere. Here's a quick snapshot of what CTC has accomplished since our Jan. 22 start.
- ...
- Raised probing questions about the "cap-and-trade" approach advocated by some large environmental groups and corporations, while maintaining a united front on the necessity of putting a price on carbon emissions,
- ...
I'll say it again, at the most basic level a carbon tax and cap-and-trade policies can be used to achieve the same reduction in pollution and both provide incentives for innovation to reduce pollution more cost-effectively. Carbon taxes are more likely to stick it to business firms, but, for the same reason (a) they provide more incentives to innovate -- big lost profits due to pollution abatement costs makes you want to cut abatement costs more than ever and (b) they are less likely to be implemented because firms hate them.
Cap-and-trade policies are more likely to be implemented ... despite the best efforts of the Carbon Tax Center ... in my opinion.
