Earth Equity News

New Larson Bill Raises the Bar for Congressional Climate Action. By Charles Komanoff, CarbonTaxCenter, March 6, 2009. "Carbon taxing to safeguard Earth's climate took several major steps forward -- politically and intellectually -- with the introduction yesterday of the America's Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009 by Rep. John B. Larson, chair of the House Democratic Caucus and fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. The new bill builds and improves on Rep. Larson's 2007 bill with these provisions: 1) The first-year tax rate is $15 per ton of carbon dioxide. 2) The rate rises by $10/ton per year. 3) After five years, that increase rate is automatically bumped up to $15/ton if U.S. emissions stray from an EPA-certified glide path to cut emissions by 80% from 2005 levels in 2050. 4) To protect domestic manufacturers, the bill authorizes the Treasury Department to impose a 'carbon equivalency fee' on carbon-intensive products imported from non-carbon-taxing nations. 5) Clean-tech R&D and investments are eligible for $10 billion a year in tax credits. 6) Impacted workers and industries are eligible for transition assistance of $7.5 billion in the first year; this is phased out after year 10 but still totals $41 billion. 7) All other revenue is tax-shifted to Americans via reductions in payroll taxes. Rep. Larson, a member of the powerful, tax-writing Ways & Means Committee, appears to have crafted his new bill to counter most if not all salient objections to carbon taxing."