Opinion: The best way to counter climate change is a carbon tax
A Mar. 21, Deseret News article was headlined “UN report reveals immediate action is needed to counter climate change.”
The best way to counter climate change is to tax carbon emissions. A 2019 report from the International Monetary Fund says “Carbon taxes are powerful and efficient, because they allow firms and households to find the lowest-cost ways of reducing energy use and shifting toward cleaner alternatives.”
Along with a carbon tax, there needs to be a boarded adjustment tax on imports from countries that don’t have a carbon tax so goods from the U.S. will still be competitive.
The European Union already has a tax on carbon and has developed a carbon border adjustment mechanism. If America does not start taxing carbon, the E.U. countries are going to require the U.S. to pay import taxes.
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The carbon tax should be revenue neutral. Other taxes could be reduced or the revenues collected from the carbon tax could be given back to the American people in the form of a monthly dividend.
The simplest way of applying the tax would be to apply it at the source: the mine, well or port of entry.
I hope that Congress takes action soon and applies a tax on carbon.
Russell Patterson
West Valley City
