FCNL-Sponsored Carbon Tax Event Draws a Crowd (12/19/08)

December 19, 2008

Last week, Rep. John Larson (CT) spoke to a packed room on Capitol Hill about the urgency of climate change and the need to put a price on carbon through a direct tax — and audience members were on the edge of their seats.

FCNL sponsored the December 9 event with the Carbon Tax Center, the Climate Crisis Coalition, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. The briefing and strategy session featured four other speakers who lauded a carbon tax (a tax based on the carbon content of fossil fuels), calling it a better choice for curbing CO2 emissions than a "cap and trade" system. Cap and trade sets a decreasing limit on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that companies can emit and creates a pollution credit trading system for those emitters.

As members of the panel pointed out, a carbon tax is more transparent, efficient, and simpler. It also covers more carbon sources, fits better within existing governmental structures, and is less vulnerable to market volatility than cap and trade proposals. A carbon tax could also be returned in whole or in part to the consumer through the income tax system or by an annual lump sum payment.

Participants left the meetings hopeful and encouraged to advance the carbon tax in the 111th Congress. Opposition to the proposal is strong, however, because many carbon emitters prefer a cap and trade system, and the financial industry wants to earn fees on trading in the carbon market.

We'll be keeping you informed about opportunities to advance the carbon tax in the coming year.

Read media coverage of the event:

1) The American Prospect

2) Grist