Carbon Tax anyone?

[HonestChieffan]

(Bloomberg News) — Barack Obama may consider introducing a tax on carbon emissions to help cut the U.S. budget deficit after winning a second term as president, according to HSBC Holdings Plc.

A tax starting at $20 a metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent and rising at about 6 percent a year could raise $154 billion by 2021, Nick Robins, an analyst at the bank in London, said today in an e-mailed research note, citing Congressional Research Service estimates. “Applied to the Congressional Budget Office’s 2012 baseline, this would halve the fiscal deficit by 2022,” Robins said.

Hurricane Sandy sparked discussion on climate protection in the election after presidential candidates focused on other debates, HSBC said. A continued Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives means Obama’s scope for action will be limited, Robins said. Cap-and-trade legislation stalled in the U.S. Senate after narrowly passing the house in 2009.

North American discharges fell 1.3 percent last year amid slowing economic growth. In China, the world’s biggest emitter, greenhouse gases from fuel use rose more than 9 percent in 2011, according to BP Plc statistics published on June 13.

[FishingRod]

If the administration is dead set on raising taxes this will at least spread the misery around to everyone. The same thing could be accomplished with higher taxes on food or Gasoline but that would not be hidden as well.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by FishingRod

If the administration is dead set on raising taxes this will at least spread the misery around to everyone. The same thing could be accomplished with higher taxes on food or Gasoline but that would not be hidden as well.

Well, he did say that they would tax carbon producers like coal powered electric plants to the point of bankruptcy.

[Iowanian]

Now that'll help energy cost to struggling Americans and stimulate job creation.........