Carbon taxes — not always bad
Published 8:34 am Monday, July 15, 2019
To the Editor:
This past week, the US Conference of Mayors, which is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more, adopted a resolution calling on Congress to pass legislation to set a carbon price that is ‘“sufficient” to meet Paris climate goals. But carbon pricing means putting a fee or tax on fossil fuels, and this extra cost is harder on people who earn less than those who earn more. This is because a greater portion of income is used for fuel and electricity in low and middle-income households. Although the rich typically have higher fuel and electricity bills, these costs are a smaller portion of their income since they usually spend more on things like homes and luxury items. But there are ways to set up a carbon tax that isn’t harder on the middle class.
House Bill 763, the bipartisan Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, is a way to make a more equal carbon tax. This bill is kind of like a Robin Hood tax because it helps the poor more than the rich. This is how it works: Have oil, gas, and coal companies pay a fee (or tax) based on their sales, and they will increase their prices to pass this cost on to everyone who buys these fuels. This will help companies that use cleaner energy to sell their products for less than those that use fossil fuels.
But here’s the real beauty of H.R. 763, the collected fee is put in a trust account, and every month, an equal amount of money is given back to each person, the same way you get refunds from the IRS (if you don’t pay taxes and you’re not a dependent, you’ll still be able to get a check). If you want to, you can use your check to help buy insulation for your home or more efficient appliances so the “carbon tax” you pay gets smaller, but you still get the same amount back every month whether you use more or less fuel and electricity. The plan is to set the fee in a way that gives each person around $20 every month in the first year, and then increase the fee and the amount back every year. None of the money from this fee will be kept by the government. We all get the same amount back — and we know $20 means a lot more to people who earn less than to those who earn more.
The problem is, when many people hear the word “fee” or “tax,” they get too angry or too afraid to look carefully at the whole idea. We need to talk to our congressmen to help them understand that they don’t need to be afraid of a fee or tax if it helps all of us.
D. McCoy
Elizabethton