By Tribune-Review

Published: Saturday, November 17, 2012, 8:56 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2013

A new federal carbon tax being advocated by leftists and environmentalists would not curb man-made emissions enough to possibly affect climate. But it would hinder commerce and America's drive for energy independence enough to drag down the economy.

Steve Milloy, the publisher of JunkScience.com , writing for Investor's Business Daily, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Christopher C. Horner, writing in California's Orange County Register, point out that a carbon tax:

• Would not significantly cut atmospheric carbon dioxide or affect climate

• Would raise prices of goods and services produced by burning fossil fuels

• Would give Washington more revenue to squander, even in “revenue-neutral” or “deficit hawk” guise, as some misguided voices on the right propose

• Would really be about establishing a huge, new revenue source to fund Big Government, a la Europe.

Clearly, a U.S. carbon tax would hurt far more people than it would help. It also would discourage greater reliance on increasingly abundant conventional energy sources at home. And if it would include trading of carbon credits or permits, government would just be artificially creating a bogus “market.”

When all ramifications are taken into account, a carbon tax would be a losing proposition — and one to avoid.

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