A Planet in Trouble - A Taxing Solution?

April 8, 2007 – Vol.12 No.3

A PLANET IN TROUBLE - A TAXING SOLUTION?

Is global warming already a runaway train on a collision course that will impact every living creature on the planet?

According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) it appears it is.

Since there is no technology that’s being implemented globally on a large enough scale to result in a dramatic reduction of greenhouse gases; since there is no national leadership and policy from the world’s biggest emitters to force reductions and since there is no policy that would make reducing emissions extraordinarily appealing to businesses and individuals, the train wreck appears imminent, at the moment.

But the last three words of the above paragraph - at the moment - are important to consider.

The leader of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, George Bush, is nearing the end of his tenure. A new moment is less than two years away. Though he has been willing to spend taxpayer’s money on cleaner technologies, or hand out tax breaks for the purchase of the same, he has refused to ask for the regulatory steps or policy to curb emissions.

When told by the Supreme Court on April 3 that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, he shrugged off the decision, singing the same old tune about causing economic damage. Yet, as usual, he didn’t explain exactly where the economic damage would occur. (No one asked either.)

It seems likely, too, that the Compassionate Conservative was briefed on the second of four installments from the IPCC, Climate Change 2007, Impacts. Adaptations and Vulnerability. That document makes it clear that lives and livelihoods are expected to be ruined (if not lost) in a changing global climate. Still no action by the President. So much for compassion.

No one wants economic damage in mitigating climate change - though climate change itself is sure to cause economic damage. And compassion? Climate change will affect all walks of life, in most cases for the worse. We’re supposed to be caring for all, rich and poor.

So what can be done when the next moment arrives? What can be done at the governmental level that won’t cause damage, but be neutral or perhaps beneficial?

In honor of approaching tax day, start considering replacing the national Income Tax with a national Carbon Tax. That is, tax an individual, family or business on its carbon footprint; the carbon emissions the taxpayer is responsible for. If the taxpayer wants to reduce his taxes all he has to do is prove that he’s reduced his footprint. But if his footprint gets larger he gets socked.

The nuances would be complex, verification and reporting hard. Yet the Income Tax is a maze and we’ve learned to live with that.

There’s no way we could jump directly from the Income Tax to a Carbon Tax; most people wouldn’t understand. So in beginning, for the first decade or so, phase it in. Give taxpayers the option of one or the other. File a Carbon Tax form or an Income tax form, whichever you choose, whichever results in the least tax on the bottom line. A decade would be time to work out the bugs.

There’d be national economic benefits from the Carbon Tax, as well. The sales of greener technologies used to cut a taxpayer’s carbon footprint would soar.

Greener technologies often save money in the long run, an added benefit of the Carbon Tax. Aside from keeping hard-earned money out of Uncle Sam’s pockets, buying green would mean saving green.

With our current method of income taxation we get penalized for doing a good thing - earning money.

With a Carbon Tax we’d get penalized for doing a bad thing - emitting planet-ruining carbon emissions - but rewarded for cleverly reducing them.

And Bush? He could steal the moment from his successor and get the Carbon Tax rolling.

Visit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at http://www.ipcc.ch/