The Legislature should act on carbon tax

The issue of a carbon tax in Washington is far from over, even though initiative 732 didn't pass.

Now, there are two more options on the table. The Washington Environmental Council is advocating a new tax, and Governor Inslee's proposed budget includes a carbon tax. The money from the Washington Environmental Council's tax would fund alternatives to fossil fuels. Governor Inslee's proposal would use the tax to help fund education. Both of these proposals are better than doing nothing. Both taxes would cause the people that produce the most carbon to pay the most, which is a fair way of distributing responsibility.

Perhaps the proposed carbon taxes are not the perfect way to battle climate change, but we cannot afford to wait around for something perfect. We need to act now. We have to try the tax to know whether it will work. If it doesn't work we will be able to adapt it. The longer we wait to try something, the more urgent and difficult it will get to fix the problem. If Washington takes the lead and adopts a carbon tax this year, we may motivate other states, and then maybe other countries, to take action and reduce human impact on climate change as soon as possible

This story was originally published December 23, 2016 at 9:40 AM with the headline "The Legislature should act on carbon tax."