A group of Republican senior statesmen is pushing for a carbon tax to combat the effects of climate change, and hoping to sell their plan to the White House.
The Associated Press reports former Secretary of State Jim Baker is leading the effort, which also includes former Secretary of State George Shultz. In an opinion piece published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal, they argue “there is mounting evidence of problems with the atmosphere that are growing too compelling to ignore.”
The group will meet today with White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, senior adviser Jared Kushner and Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council. Ivanka Trump was also invited to the meeting, according to a person familiar with the plans, but it was not clear whether she planned to attend. The person was not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly and insisted on anonymity.
Carbon taxes are designed to raise the cost of fossil fuels to bring down consumption. In the opinion piece, Baker and Shultz detail their plan for a gradually increasing carbon tax, with dividends being returned to people, as well as border adjustments for the carbon content of exports and imports and the rollback of regulations.
According to an outline of the plan, the group will call for a gradually increasing carbon tax that “might begin at $40 a ton and increase steadily over time.” It would raise $200 billion to $300 billion annually. They would then redistribute tax proceeds back to consumers on a quarterly basis in what they call “carbon dividends” that could be approximately $2,000 annually for a family of four.
Their plan would also set “border adjustments” based on carbon, which would result in fees for products from countries without similar carbon pricing systems. And they would seek to roll back regulations enacted under former President Barack Obama, including the Clean Power Plan.
