Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — A tax on carbon emissions would
curtail U.S. consumption, investment and wages, limiting the
ability of the levy to add revenue for the federal government,
according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
The group in a report assumed a $20 a ton charge on carbon
dioxide starting this year and then calculated costs with a rate
of almost $1,000 a ton by 2053, and another with the rate
relatively stable. The higher tax rate is needed to achieve U.S.
goals of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 80 percent.
“Any revenue raised by a carbon tax — under both carbon
tax cases — would be far outweighed by the negative impacts to
the overall economy,” the Washington-based organization said
today in its report.
Carbon-dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution
have led to a warming of the Earth’s temperature, which
threatens to cause extreme weather, drought and coastal
flooding, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
Taxing a ton of carbon dioxide at $20 would raise more than $100
billion in the first year, according to research by the American
Enterprise Institute, which says it backs policies to strengthen
free enterprise.
Companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. say they support a
carbon tax instead of federal regulations to try to combat the
effects of climate change.
Jack Lew, nominee to be U.S. Treasury secretary, in written
answers to questions posed during his confirmation by Senator
Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said, “the administration has
not proposed a carbon tax, nor is it planning to do so.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mark Drajem in Washington at
mdrajem@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jon Morgan at
jmorgan97@bloomberg.net
