GOP to Rule Out Carbon Tax

by Timothy Cama (The Hill) House Republicans this week will vote to condemn taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, slamming the door on an idea that some members of their party have flirted with in the past.

The nonbinding resolution, sponsored by Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), lists numerous problems with a carbon tax, declaring, “It is the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to American families and businesses, and is not in the best interest of the United States.”

The election-year proposal responds to years of pressure from Democrats and economists across the political spectrum who have endorsed the idea.

A carbon tax also has the backing of some conservatives, who argue it would be a simple way to reduce greenhouse gases without new regulations or more government.

Numerous think tanks, including the R Street Institute and the Niskanen Center, have been pressuring GOP lawmakers to endorse a carbon tax. The American Enterprise Institute held closed-door meetings in 2012 to get additional groups on board with little success.

But with the GOP broadly skeptical of climate change science and new taxes, Republican lawmakers have avoided endorsing a carbon tax, and the House’s resolution is meant to make clear where they stand.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is calling for a carbon tax, but party front-runner has not. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has explicitly ruled it out.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), a freshman who campaigned largely on a carbon tax platform in the 2014 election, said the resolution looks like a way to clamp down on what the GOP sees as growing support for putting a price on carbon emissions.

“Republicans tend to hate regulations, especially the president’s new power plants rules,” he said. “And yet, putting a carbon tax in place could, in many ways, be a more efficient way to accomplish these goals, and with more flexibility.” READ MORE / MORE and MORE (Politico's Morning Energy) and MORE / MORE (Advanced Biofuels USA) and MORE (Bloomberg)

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: HOUSE GOP PLAYING DEFENSE WITH ANTI-CARBON TAX RESOLUTION: The House plans to take up a resolution (H.R. Con. 89) today opposing a carbon tax, a kind of best-defense-is-a-good-offense move against what they fear is a gathering momentum for just such a tax. As Pro's Elana Schor and Andrew Restuccia report , many liberal Democrats have long backed a carbon tax as a straightforward and effective approach to curbing carbon emissions. Some Republicans, backed by conservative economists and think tanks who see the policy as a free market solution to climate change, may be ready to break with their party's resistance to carbon curbing policy. Presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hasn't backed a carbon tax, but if she wins the White House, Sen. Chuck Schumer, widely expected to be the next Dem leader in the Senate, thinks a carbon tax could have a chance. That type of grand bargain, he added, is "possible, but hard."

The House resolution coming to the floor today is an attempt to force wavering Republicans to go on the record on a carbon tax well ahead of any such a bill coming to Congress. "This thing is a legitimate risk," said Mike McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who opposes the tax. He added: "When you're trying to make a particular policy toxic, you make people vote on it. And over time, they start thinking, maybe I don't want to go to war." READ MORE

Excerpt from Bloomberg: Some big oil companies disagree with the Republican effort. That includes Exxon Mobil, which hasn’t taken a formal position on the Scalise resolution but has lobbied on Capitol Hill for a revenue-neutral carbon tax to take the place of an array of environmental regulations that raise the cost of fossil fuels.

A revenue-neutral carbon tax would "ensure a uniform and predictable cost of carbon, allow market forces to drive solutions, maximize transparency to stakeholders, reduce administrative complexity, promote global participation and easily adjust to future developments in climate science and policy," said Exxon Mobil spokesman Alan Jeffers. "In order to set a uniform cost of carbon across the economy, a carbon tax has to replace all the other patchwork of regulations that are designed to put a price on carbon.”

Several other large integrated oil companies also favor a tax on carbon, which could have the effect of shifting some environmental costs to the consumers of fossil fuels. For instance, BP Plc says a well-constructed carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would encourage energy producers and consumers to reduce emissions. Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chairman Charles Holliday calls a carbon tax the most effective and practical way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But the issue divides the oil industry, pitting those integrated companies against many independent producers (which lack refining operations) that are vigorously fighting a carbon tax.

The industry split may be one reason the American Petroleum Institute declined to weigh in on Scalise’s carbon resolution. "We are not taking a position on a carbon tax," spokewoman Sabrina Fang said by e-mail.

For instance, former South Carolina congressman Bob Inglis is now pushing the idea as a free-market solution to climate change. READ MORE / MORE