Pay Carbon Costs Now to Save Later (The Toronto Star – Editorial)
"And the message to government couldn’t be clearer. The sooner it acknowledges that we all must pay for the environmental damage we are doing by putting a price on carbon that leads to real reductions over the medium term, the better off we will be over the longer term in terms of both environmental and economic effects."
socialscientist says
A carbon tax must be at least national. In the interim, a local government can implement free public transit right now and reap immediate carbon and economic advantage.
Michael D. Setty says
And save local taxpayers money by eliminating the need for homeless shelters, assuming the transit system runs overnight.
Michael D. Setty says
Here’s an objective story on the topic of "free transit."See http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/322858_freebus07.html?source=mypi
Dan says
A national carbon tax would be preferable to state or local taxes, for the obvious reason that it would have a far greater impact. In addition, a national tax would avoid “leakage” as energy users attempt to avoid the tax by moving production or energy purchases outside of the states imposing the tax. For the same reason an international taxing system would be preferable to a national tax, although border tax adjustments can be utilized to minimize or eliminate the “leakage” problem across national borders. Until a national carbon tax is implemented, state-level taxes would provide an excellent model for Congress to replicate.
The carbon tax will provide a powerful economic signal encouraging drivers to leave their car at home (or to not own a car) and to take public transit. “Free public transit” is beyond the scope of the Carbon Tax Center’s mission. It would certainly provide tremendous environmental benefits, but we have not attempted to analyze the economics.