I write in praise of a carbon fee and dividend.
Congress could enact it, and so could our legislature. The fee, collected at the mine, wellhead, or port of international entry, raises the price of fossil fuels. This curbs their use, as classic free-market economics tells us it will.
The money collected is paid back in equal shares to each adult citizen, along the lines of Alaska's annual permanent fund dividend from state oil revenues. This means most low-income people, such as older people on fixed incomes, are not harmed economically. Some will even profit from the arrangement.
The fees aren't flushed down the toilet. Rather, for excellent reasons, they're taken from one place and put in another. Each citizen then decides how to spend their share. Any resulting job losses in the fossil fuel industry will be compensated for by job gains in the industries where citizens choose to spend their money. It's a free market solution to a social problem. Think about it.
~ David Bellefeuille-Rice, Olympia
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Olympia173
So you're saying the government should enact legislation which artificially inflates the cost of fossil-fuels and calling it a "free market solution to a social problem"? Interesting. For those of us not privileged enough to be able to afford electric vehicles, I guess we'll be spending our "carbon dividend" on drastically more expensive fuel for our cars. Absurd.
Sunday, April 17, 2022 Report this