"Mr. Waxman [the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee] was forced to water down the cap in early years to please rural Democrats, and then severely ratchet it up in later years to please liberal Democrats."
Henry Waxman's dilemma: the cap should be low(for rural Democrats seeking re-elections in conservative districts), and the cap should be high (for urban Democrats in liberal districts). Solution: separation in time. Very low cap now; very high cap later. A good solution to a political problem, but, due to a future carbon tax shock, a bad solution for the economy.
A better solution would be to additionally localize the caps in space, e.g. rural areas, and/or provide local subsidies to offset the initial impact. On the political side, this gives rural Democrats points for defending voter interests in their own districts; on the carbon reduction side, enables better control and coverage of CO2 emissions in the country as a whole.
No comments:
Post a Comment