This is in response to the March 5 opinion column “Sky isn’t falling, it’s just dirtier under President Trump.” The conservative solution to climate change proposed by the Climate Leadership Council, a carbon tax that’s paid to the taxpayers rather than by them, could be a game-changer since it’s a market-based plan with a proven record of success. It requires no government regulations, expansion or expenditures, won’t cost consumers or taxpayers anything, and will have enormous economic benefits.
Every fossil fuel corporation pays the tax to every taxpayer in a quarterly carbon “dividend” check. The tax steadily increases and so do people’s “dividends.” Use that money to buy cheaper clean power and you make a profit. That’s projected to increase GDP $75 billion to $80 billion annually (REMI) and within three years it would cut U.S. emissions more than the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan ever would.
It will also create over 5 million good-paying, permanent (40-year) clean-energy jobs, according to the Climate Leadership Council’s ally, Stanford University’s solutionsproject.org.
This revenue-neutral carbon tax has worked as promised in British Columbia for the past eight years, lowering taxes and energy bills while creating jobs and a great economy (The Economist). It has a whopping 83 percent public approval rating there (World Bank).
