Letter: Truth is carbon tax will cut pollution

Brier Dudley’s imaginative take on carbon taxes would receive an “F” for lousy analysis and cherry-picked data if it were an Econ 101 paper.

He cites far-left group Food and Water Watch, but the United Nations finds that emissions would be roughly 15 percent higher than they are today if not for the carbon tax in B.C. The Economist magazine called B.C.’s carbon tax “a winner.” Economists from Paul Krugman to Greg Mankiw, and political leaders from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to former President Obama, all support pricing carbon. It’s simple: You can’t throw your garbage on the street for free, so big polluters shouldn’t spew harmful emissions into our atmosphere for free.

Just as we no longer debate that the Earth is round and orbits the sun, or that greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming, we shouldn’t debate that carbon pricing will reduce carbon emissions. Pricing carbon has been proven to cut pollution, spur clean energy, and reduce climate damage. Let’s have a discussion about how the revenue from a carbon tax can best be put to use. But future generations are counting on us, and pieces like Mr. Dudley’s only seek to delay action and obscure facts. Enough!

This story was originally published February 1, 2018 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Truth is carbon tax will cut pollution."