How often can one simple policy contribute decisively to solving two of our nation’s greatest challenges?
Our national goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions over the decade and achieving net zero by 2050 can be accomplished most cheaply, and most surely, if we tax the use of fossil fuels. The benefits of this policy – avoiding the costs of higher seas, higher temperatures and climate chaos, and the health benefits of cleaner air – hugely outweigh the costs of the transition to green energy.
But recent events make obvious another benefit to taxing our consumption of fossil fuels: the mortal wound such a tax would inflict on Russia and Iran. Russia, among the world’s largest exporters of crude oil, natural gas and coal, earns almost 10% of its GDP from energy exports. Iran is among the world’s largest exporters of crude oil, which accounts for more than 5% of its GDP. When we tax fossil fuel usage, we drive down the world price of fuels and starve these economies of one of their most important sources of revenue. We therefore weaken their ability to wage war against Ukraine and Israel.
A carbon tax is not enough, in itself, to cure the climate and protect democracy abroad. But it is hard to imagine another policy that would buys us so much for so little.
Michael Jones
Brunswick
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