Sanders/Boxer carbon tax The “Climate Protection Act of 2013″
would impose a fee of $20 per ton (carbon or methane equivalent)
on coal, petroleum, natural gas and other fossil fuels. In other
words, it would impose the fee on upstream producers (coal
mines, oil refineries, etc.). The fee would increase 5.6% per
year for 10 years and then remain in place indefinitely. The Act
attempts to equalize treatment of imports and domestic goods. It
charges the fee on all imported fuels. It also imposes a “carbon
equivalency fee” on all carbon-intensive goods. This fee is set
at the cost that domestic producers of comparable goods incur as
a result of the carbon fee or other carbon equivalency fees.
This is meant to prevent cheaper, untaxed imported carbon-
intensive goods from flooding the domestic market. If the
importing country has a similar carbon fee, then those imports
would not be “double-taxed.” It would be interesting to see what
the World Trade Organization thinks of the carbon equivalency
import tariff. I am