Full Title: The Case Against a U.S. Carbon Tax
Author(s): Robert P. Murphy, Patrick J. Michaels, and Paul C. Knappenberger
Publisher(s): CATO Institute
Publication Date: October 1, 2016
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Some proponents of federal policies to combat climate change are arguing for a federal carbon tax (or similar type of “carbon price”). Within conservative and libertarian circles, some proponents claim that a revenue-neutral carbon tax “swap” could deliver a double dividend, reducing climate change while shifting some of the nation’s tax burden onto carbon emissions, which supposedly would spur the economy. This analysis describes several serious problems with those claims. The actual economics of climate change—as summarized in the peer-reviewed literature as well as United Nations (UN) and Obama administration reports—reveal that the case for a U.S. carbon tax is weaker than the carbon tax proponents claim.