Democrats Weigh Carbon Tax

[applegrove]

Democrats Weigh Carbon Tax

October 16, 2021 at 11:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2021/10/16/democrats-weigh-carbon-tax/

"SNIP.......

“Some House and Senate Democrats, smarting from a move by Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, to kill a major element of President Biden’s climate plan, are switching to Plan B: a tax on carbon dioxide pollution,” the New York Times reports

“A carbon tax, in which polluting industries would pay a fee for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit, is seen by economists as the most effective way to cut the fossil fuel emissions that are heating the planet.”

.......SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Americans want something done on climate. Maybe a stick will

be more efficient.

[dsc]

2. This would be a very bad idea

First, I don't see Manchin being OK with this but let's assume for a second that he is.

Then you have the very real problem that it will amount to a tax on the middle class (not the entire middle class but some of it) or it will be a nightmare to administer. Any rebate is either going to have to be targeted, in which case customers will have to have receipts for pretty much every purchase they make, or if they aren't then the rebates will leave some people out in part.

[MichMan]

3. It would sure break the $400k campaign promises

[dsc]

4. barring a receipt program it surely would

[MichMan]

5. Impossible to administer receipts

Jut one example. All plastic products have petroleum in the raw material.

I worked in the auto supply industry for decades. Company A manufactures raw plastic pellets and gets taxed, they pass the tax on as a raw material price increase to a supplier B that uses the plastic to manufacture widgets. That user is then forced to pass along the tax plus their own carbon usage in higher widget prices to their customer, the auto manufacturer C. The auto manufacturer raises the price of the car to cover all the components that were assessed a carbon tax throughout the supply chain plus their portion.

Each of them also incurs higher transportation costs from higher fuel prices for everything shipped in a truck that will also get passed on to the next one in the chain. Add in higher energy prices raising the cost of any energy used in manufacturing, office and R&D facilities for all of them.

I don't want to even think how you would tax components that were manufactured overseas in China, Mexico or India that wouldn't treat US manufacturers unfairly.

How would someone buying a car with thousands of parts have any idea how much of the cost of it was in carbon taxes? Then the car is financed for 5, 6, or 7 years. Would the end consumer have to submit receipts that amortized the sum of all those taxes for each year they file?

[kelly1mm]

6. Why would any Democrat think Manchin would

Be OK with this and if not, why float it? It is not like Manchin is not ok with nothing going through……

[Tetrachloride]

7. Raw resources tax: oil, mining industry (remove subsidies)

[hunter]

8. I think it's a bad idea. We need to ban fossil fuels entirely as quickly as we can...

... not create a revenue stream.

[MichMan]

9. Increase gas taxes by $2 per gallon and accomplish both

[hunter]

10. High gasoline and diesel taxes in Europe haven't eliminated fossil fueled cars.

If you want to eliminate fossil fueled automobiles you have to ban them, starting with new automobile sales.

The magic hand of the free marketplace will never accomplish that.

[MichMan]

13. Don't see full size pickups and SUV proliferating there

When consumers are faced with $7-8 a gallon gasoline, they choose small economical vehicles.

[Ron Obvious]

11. Ethically the right thing to do. Politically, probably not

A sad state of affairs to be sure.

[BlueNProud]

12. What does Presisent Manchin think?

Why bother proposing anything?