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I realized that you are assuming we can properly attribute carbon with a carbon tax. I think this would be a hard problem for the IRS and they would be much bet

by xracy 3y ago

I realized that you are assuming we can properly attribute carbon with a carbon tax. I think this would be a hard problem for the IRS and they would be much better able to associate wealth to folks using a wealth tax. You have to directly tax what you want to discourage. Indirect almost never works unless you have a strong understanding of the system.

ericd 3y ago
Well, I don’t want to discourage wealth, I want to discourage carbon emissions. It’s not a tax on people, you attribute carbon by tacking the tax on new carbon entering the carbon cycle (fossil fuels) at the time of extraction or importation. That adds to the inputs cost of everything that’s fossil-fuel intensive, and the price increase should flow through to the end consumer. For things that are manufactured in countries without an equivalent tax, you do what’s called a border adjustment, essentially a carbon-intensity-based tariff, and to encourage countries to jump onboard with their own carbon tax, and not attempt to disadvantage your manufacturing, you make it a pessimistic estimate. And you can make it revenue neutral (and redistributive) by dividending out all revenue equally, to help offset the price increases. If someone’s carbon footprint is lower than average, they end up ahead.