Boxer-Sanders Carbon “Fee” Relies on Huge Bait-and-Switch

A recent story in EnergyGuardian (sub. req’d) centered on Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) support for the carbon “fee” bill introduced by his colleagues Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Fortunately, the newly-released NERA study gives us a quantitative estimate of how much their scheme would hurt the U.S. economy. The whole episode fulfills the warnings that many of us have been making during the carbon tax debate. Specifically, advocates of a carbon tax rely on a bait-and-switch, where they make wild promises about the alleged environmental benefits of a relatively modest tax rate. As the NERA study shows, however, if the tax rate is modest, the environmental impact is negligible, but if the rate is high enough to really reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, the economic impacts are absolutely devastating.

READ MORE:  http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2013/02/28/boxer-sanders-carbon-fee-relies-on-huge-bait-and-switch/