Australian Taxpayers' Alliance Tim Andrews speaks in US against carbon tax bill
Tuesday, 24 July 2018
A politically suicidal Republican Carlos Curbelo (that party again, Republican) has today introduced a bill for a carbon tax into the US House of Representatives.
The Executive Director of Australia's ATA Tim Andrews joined other free market organisations to speak against the idea in Washington in the wee small hours today (our time).
Tim did a great job of demolishing the bad, mad idea, listing the political careers destroyed by the carbon tax in Australia and the current (if flimsy) bipartisan opposition to one.
I take Tim's point that both mainstream parties currently have no active plans for a carbon tax - but I wouldn't trust either the Turnbull Coalition or Shorten Labor to fight against a carbon tax themselves. The price of keeping our economy free of the madness is eternal vigilance. If a Republican can introduce a carbon tax bill in the US............
Tim starts at the 38 minutes to go point.
There's a comprehensive report at The Washington Examiner
And I've republished some of a report from Reuters here
U.S. Republican unveils bill calling for carbon tax
The measure is sure to fail. But Curbelo, speaking at a Washington forum on Monday, remained upbeat.
“I truly believe that one day this bill, or legislation similar to it, will become law,” Curbelo said.
“It will spark an important debate about investing in our country’s infrastructure, the way we tax and what to do to protect the environment,” he said.
Curbelo said his legislation would exceed the carbon reduction goals of the Paris climate change pact by imposing a $24-per-ton levy on industrial carbon-dioxide emissions, which would begin in 2020 and rise annually. It would replace existing taxes on gasoline and aviation fuel.
He said the tax would generate $700 billion in revenue over a decade for infrastructure investments. The bill would also impose a moratorium on U.S. regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions.
The legislation represents a small but meaningful shift for Republicans on climate politics, driven in part by candidates in swing states where increasingly frequent hurricanes and floods make no distinction between Republicans and Democrats.
Many Republicans supported a climate bill 10 years ago. But it died in the Senate. Since then, Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have largely stood firm on two positions: cutting taxes and opposing climate legislation.
Last week, the Republican-controlled House voted 229-180 to approve a resolution expressing “the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy.”
Curbelo opposed the measure, along with five other Republicans. A seventh chose not to support the resolution by voting “present.” Curbelo intends to discuss his bill with the 86-member bipartisan House Climate Solutions caucus, which includes 42 other Republicans.