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Survey shows that American voters prefer a straight carbon tax over cap-and-trade as a policy option to address climate change.
As the climate policy debate heats up again on the Senate floor, there has been lots of talk about whether a cap-and-trade to control greenhouse gas emissions–one similar to the House’s American Clean Energy and Security Act (aka, the Waxman-Markey bill)–will even be taken up by the Senate this year. With post-healthcare debate political tensions on Capitol Hill running extremely high, and President Obama dropping the $646 billion in projected revenue from a carbon trading scheme in the 2011 budget, political pragmatists are starting to revisit other policy alternatives to a cap-and-trade. One of those policy alternatives is a straight carbon tax.
And the results of a new survey show that a carbon tax is actually the preferred mechanism for American voters.
The survey, released by the U.S. Climate Task Force and Fortune 500, found that once voters were educated about the differences between the two policy mechanisms, they preferred the carbon tax by a margin of two to one. Conducted over 1,000 registered voters across the country and offers some of the first insight into the American public opinion on cap and trade as well as other policy options.
Importantly, the study’s authors note, “the preference for a carbon tax approach holds up across the electorate.” After explaining the difference in policy mechanisms, strong support for a carbon tax was indicated by Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, voters in every income bracket, voters in each region of the country, and voters that identified themselves as strong environmentalists and those who do not.
Despite the fact there are some compelling reasons why a carbon tax is superior to a cap-and-trade, no serious debate has been given to such a mechanism by either the Senate or the House. However that may be changing.
Follow Tim Hurst on twitter @ecopolitologist
Related posts:
- 6 Reasons Why a Carbon Cap is Superior to Cap and Trade
- Cap and Trade Explained [video]
- Energy Secretary Chu Says US Needs to Move Slow on Cap and Trade [video]
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