Several veteran Republicans gathered last week to discuss dismantling the Obama administration’s climate policies and replacing them with a carbon tax. The proposed tax would start at $40 per ton and would be returned to all Americans in the form of Social Security check.
Economists and climate change scientists have been suggesting a carbon tax for years. The idea could face quite a battle ahead considering President Trump’s plans to ramp up extraction of fossil fuels.
A member of the newly formed Climate Leadership Council described aspects of the carbon tax that they hope Republicans and the Trump administration will support: “It is a good proposal, it’s simple, its conservative, its free market, it’s limited government,” said James Baker in an interview with The Washington Post. Baker served as Secretary of the Treasury under former President Ronald Reagan.
The plan has been supported by many respected Republicans, including Mitt Romney and Henry Paulson. A carbon tax as such could give green energies a boost in sales if U.S. industries start to look for other means of power to avoid the tax. The Climate Leadership Council estimate that the average American family could receive $2,000 each year in dividends.
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