What will it take to tax carbon?
Climate change legislation died an ignominious death in the Senate earlier this year. If you鈥檇 like to understand why, check out . Lizza documents how the 鈥渢ripartisan鈥� trio of John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham came up short in their effort to craft a 60-vote coalition in the Senate. Among the bumps along the way:
- On March 31, President Obama announced a dramatic expansion in offshore waters open for oil and natural gas drilling. In so doing, he gave away one of the sweeteners that the trio was hoping to use to attract pro-drilling senators.
- On April 15, Fox News reported that, according to 鈥渟enior administration officials鈥�, the White House was opposing efforts by Senator Graham to increase gasoline taxes. That claim was perverse鈥搕he bill didn鈥檛 include higher gasoline taxes and Graham certainly wasn鈥檛 pushing them鈥揵ut not surprisingly it created problems for Graham back home.
Lizza鈥檚 article is rich with such anecdotes, but it鈥檚 the larger picture I鈥檇 like to emphasize. Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham adopted a traditional approach to building a Senate coalition. They identified their main goal鈥揷omprehensive climate change limits鈥揳nd then started negotiating with individual Senators and special interests to see how they could get to 60 votes. Nuclear power, electric utilities, oil refiners, home heating oil, even cod fisherman all make an appearance at the bargaining table. But it鈥檚 not clear that such horse-trading could ever yield 60 votes.
This failure makes me wonder whether the traditional approach will ever generate a substantive climate bill. I suppose that鈥檚 still possible, particularly if the EPA begins to implement a burdensome regulatory approach to limiting carbon emissions. That might bring affected industries running back to the table.
But I would like to suggest another strategy: Perhaps the environmental community should make common cause with the budget worrywarts. In principle, a carbon tax is a powerful two-birds-with-one-stone policy: it cuts carbon emissions and raises money to finance the government. (This is equally true of a cap-and-trade approach in which the government auctions allowances and keeps the proceeds.) Perhaps there鈥檚 a future 60-vote coalition that would favor those outcomes even if various energy interests would be opposed?
Such a coalition is unthinkable today. Opposition to energy taxes runs deep, as Senator Graham experienced. But fiscal concerns will continue to grow in coming years, and spending reductions may not be enough to get rising debts under control. If so, maybe we鈥檒l see a day in which a partnership of the greens and the green eyeshades will take a stab at a carbon tax.
------------------------------
海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link above.
