Put a price on CO2 emissions

Record CO2 emissions are committing the world to catastrophic climate change. In April, cumulative CO2 levels reached 407.42 parts per million, a level not seen on earth since the Miocene Epoch, 10 million to 15 million years ago.

And CO2 emissions continue to rise with frightening speed. The huge coal, oil and gas companies are using our atmosphere as a garbage dump; they are not paying the true cost of their products. Putting a price on carbon emissions is the essential first step toward rapidly transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Initiative I-732, which will be on the ballot in November, creates a carbon tax of $25 per metric ton of CO2 on fossil fuels consumed in the state of Washington, reduces the sales tax by 1 percent, effectively eliminates the B&O business tax, and funds the Working Families rebate. Because it is revenue-neutral, it is a tax shift, not a tax increase.

By replacing 1 percent of the sales tax, which falls most heavily on working people, and replacing it with a tax on carbon polluting companies, it is a step toward making Washington’s taxes more progressive. British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon tax, implemented in 2008, has been extraordinarily effective in reducing carbon emissions; fuel use in B.C. has dropped by 16 percent, while it has risen in the rest of Canada.

To save a livable climate for our grandchildren we must put a price on carbon. Support I-732!

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Put a price on CO2 emissions."