In fact, it is worse than a straightforward carbon tax.

A global carbon tax would mitigate climate risks while alleviating government debt burdens.

But a carbon tax is far more transparent and potentially less prone to the pitfalls seen in international carbon quota trading.

The cap and trade system thus imposes a carbon tax without having to admit that it is really a tax.

An internationally coordinated carbon tax could raise 250 billion annually, while a small financial transaction tax could raise another 40 billion.

A carbon tax, long advocated by a broad spectrum of economists, is a generalized version of a gas tax that hits all forms of carbon emissions, including from coal and natural gas.

Why might a carbon tax be viable now, when it never has been before?

Acting on their own, nation states can successfully address neither tax avoidance nor carbon emissions.

With a long term and predictable carbon tax and subsidy system, the world would move systematically toward low carbon energy, greater energy efficiency, and CCS.

This implies that any tax on carbon has a much higher impact on coal than on crude oil (or gas). Owners of coal mines and their clients are thus strongly opposed to any tax on carbon.

Might a reawakening of voter anger be the ticket to rekindling interest in a carbon tax?

A carbon tax has also been proposed as a method to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.

Owners of coal mines and their clients are thus strongly opposed to any tax on carbon.

But introducing a modest, flexible carbon tax in major economies would be an important first step.

Today s politicians focus narrowly on how high a carbon tax should be to stop people from using fossil fuels.

In principle, one could cut other taxes to offset the effects of a carbon tax, neutralizing the revenue effects.

What little chance there was of the US backing any global plan to limit or tax carbon emissions has disappeared.

Rather than let the consumer price of oil fall by that amount, governments should put a carbon tax in place.

This implies that any tax on carbon has a much higher impact on coal than on crude oil (or gas).

After all, one of the major arguments against a carbon tax has been that it would make energy more expensive.

A carbon tax causes each firm and household to respond to the same cost of adding CO2 to the atmosphere.

Because each barrel of oil emits roughly 0.3 tons of CO2, a carbon tax of, say, 40 per ton of CO2 implies an oil tax of just 12 per barrel.

If the government sells these permits in an auction, the price of the permit would be a cost to the firm in the same way as a carbon tax and with the same resulting increases in consumer prices. The cap and trade system thus imposes a carbon tax without having to admit that it is really a tax.

In principle, one could cut other taxes to offset the effects of a carbon tax, neutralizing the revenue effects. Or, to be precise, a carbon tax could substitute for the huge array of taxes that is eventually coming anyway in the wake of massive government budget deficits.

A small and gradually rising carbon tax that funds a feed in tariff system could win political support in the US.

Yet we do not see carbon taxes being adopted. Although governments levy taxes on gasoline, they are reluctant to impose a general carbon tax because of public opposition to any form of taxation.

Green and Galiana propose limiting carbon pricing initially to a low tax (say, 5.00 a ton) to finance energy research and development.

There could be an international agreement that every country would impose a carbon tax at an agreed rate (reflecting the global social cost).

There could be an international agreement that every country would impose a carbon tax at an agreed rate (reflecting the global social cost). Indeed, it makes far more sense to tax bad things, like pollution, than to tax good things like work and savings.

Beyond the Carbon Crusade

Our Low Carbon Future

It's carbon or soot.

Although governments levy taxes on gasoline, they are reluctant to impose a general carbon tax because of public opposition to any form of taxation.

For example, for every 5 decline in the price per barrel, the carbon tax could be raised by a specified amount for every 5 increase, the tax could be lowered by, say, two thirds of that amount.

A carbon tax can help preserve the atmosphere while also discouraging some of the most exotic and risky energy exploration activities by making them unprofitable.

This does not mean an increase in overall taxation, but simply a substitution in each country of a pollution (carbon) tax for some current taxes.

Tax reform.

Tax reform

It started on tax reform a 'flat' income tax, a single regressive social tax, a ban on the turnover tax, etc.

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous substance formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon compounds.

Carbon steel, composed simply of iron and carbon, accounts for 90 of steel production.

For this reason, a wide range of economists favor a uniform ( harmonized ) global tax that would tax carbon emissions equally everywhere in the world, and from whatever source whether coal, oil, or gas, and whether consumers or businesses.

Shaping the Post Carbon Economy

Consider carbon capture and sequestration.

Coal consists mostly of carbon.