This has a desperate, rearguard quality to it. Climatewire reports on a looming
scare campaign by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Excerpt:
Climate skeptics concerned about the rise of conservative groups
favoring a carbon tax are preparing a response that seeks to make the
policy politically "toxic" for Republicans who might consider it.
The pre-emptive effort, still in its early stages, is designed to
discredit the idea that taxing carbon emissions is a good trade-off for
lower corporate and individual tax rates, as the nation lurches toward,
perhaps, a wide-ranging overhaul to its tax system.
Particularly worrisome is the influence that Mitt Romney's key economic
advisers, three of whom support taxing carbon, might exert on the
Republican Party as lawmakers weigh difficult choices to avert
sunsetting tax cuts and to reduce the $16 trillion deficit. Other
prominent economists, like Arthur Laffer, who advised President Reagan,
also advocate taxing carbon over income.
Question is what they'll come up with now that the idea of billboards with Theodore Kaczynski on them has
already been used.
