Secret Carbon Tax Talks Continue

Despite long odds against new taxes passing Congress, a coalition of liberal and conservative groups continues to discuss a carbon tax for the United States. A report by Ben Geman of The Hill says the ad-hoc group, composed of both liberal groups focused on climate change and conservative groups such as the American Enterprise Institute, has held several closed-door meetings since last year to discuss the carbon tax. The group met as recently as last week in Washington, DC.

Among the agenda items discussed by the group in the nearly five-hour meeting was a “Price Carbon Campaign.” Darren Goode of Politico reports that the meeting included sub-topics such as providing an “update on posture of key constituencies” and “framing and selling a carbon pollution tax.” The group began exploring the initiative after cap-and-trade failed in Congress in 2010. Among the presenters last week was a senior official with Al Gore’s climate campaign.

“Any way you slice it, the continued talk about a carbon tax is surprising and, frankly, a little appalling,” said PACE Executive Director Lance Brown. “Those who believe new carbon taxes are a solution to our future are a lonely minority. I assure you the public at large doesn’t want them.”

For now, the talk about a potential carbon tax is being characterized by those involved as extremely preliminary and driven by intellectual curiosity. One think-tank member who attended the most recent meeting, though, described the time window for consideration of a carbon tax as being 2015 or 2016. It is worth noting that past carbon tax discussions have focused on the fiscal value of having significant and predictable revenue streams – $200 billion within a decade according to one estimate – at a time when federal funds are under great pressure.

“In the past, the proponents of a carbon tax have implied that taxing carbon is a way to increase revenues without increasing income taxes, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth,” explained Brown. “Not only would the general public end up paying for this, but the poorest among us would pay the greatest toll.”