Earth Equity News

Hansen Tells Ways & Means: Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax Needed to Spur Clean Technology Revolution. By James Handley, CarbonTax.org, February 25, 2009. "A planetary crisis 'threatening the young and unborn' compels a 'substantial, gradually-increasing carbon tax with all revenue distributed directly as monthly dividends to each household,' Dr. James Hansen told Congress on Wednesday... Current concentrations of 385 ppm amplify dangerous feedback mechanisms such as loss of reflective ice surfaces and release of methane gas from permafrost, he said. Atmospheric concentrations must be brought below 350 ppm as quickly as possible, Hansen stressed, specifically rejecting the target of 80% reductions by 2050 advocated by leading environmental groups... Hansen testified at a House Ways & Means Committee hearing this morning, kicking off debate in Congress over legislation to help the U.S. achieve deep cuts in carbon emissions through a cap-and-trade system, a carbon tax, or perhaps a hybrid approach... Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, who represents Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood and parts of the Bronx, asked Hansen about the effects of a carbon tax on low-income households. Hansen explained that under his proposal to distribute 100% of carbon tax revenues to U.S. residents, a steadily increasing tax reaching $115 per ton of CO2 would result in estimated dividends of $9,000 per two-child household, assuming that adults got one 'share' and each of the first two children got one-half. [The Carbon Tax Center carbon tax impact model, projects that a $115/ton carbon tax would provide the average family of four with a $7,500 annual dividend.] Hansen noted that because households that use below-average amounts of fossil fuel would receive more in dividends than they paid in higher energy costs, his program would help the vast majority of middle- and lower-income Americans. Hansen also cited Congressional Budget Office findings [PDF, 42 pp] that carbon taxes are five times as efficient as caps at reducing emissions."