From Sylvester Johnson
A resolution in support of a federal carbon tax passed the Planning Committee of the City of Ithaca, NY on 01/16/2008 (Ithaca joins nationwide debate on carbon tax, cap and trade). There’s an excellent chance that Ithaca's City Council will endorse a federal carbon tax in early March 2008, possibly in February. If you’re interested in letting possible advocates beyond Ithaca know about this initiative please copy and send out the following suggested text, or a revision of it, to email lists: Re. Initiative for local governments’ resolutions in support of a federal carbon tax This initiative does not require your money or much time, only an average of an hour a week to contact elected officials to keep the resolution on the agenda. The only training required is reading the background information linked below. After passage, the resolution requires no further commitment on the part of advocates or the local government. Yet this relatively easy political action publicizes the benefits of a federal carbon tax. The debate between a tax and emissions trading may seem remote from daily life, but the outcome will affect citizens for decades. New York City is also remote from Washington, however Mayor Michael Bloomberg has declared his support for a federal carbon tax, as have many economists both liberal and conservative. One reason for this broad-based support is that “cap-trade” in heat-trapping emissions acts like a disguised tax, but trading is more expensive and at the same time less effective for emissions reduction, and more readily abused than an actual tax. Without a maximum permit “stop” price, trading makes energy costs too volatile. With a stop price, selling extra permits to pollute blows off the regulatory cap. Both results of cap-auction are counterproductive for the goal of reducing heat-trapping emissions. Many local governments may hope to sell offsets in emissions trading to help fund projects that reduce heat-trapping emissions. However, the value of those projects may get undercut by competition from inexpensive offsets from abroad. A federal carbon tax is less expensive as well as more effective and simpler than trading. To find out further reasons to support a new tax, please see the non-profit initiative for a federal carbon tax at the "Initiative" page of www.climatehealth.net/Initiative.html. Also available from that page is a free sample resolution with enough points included so that it’s self-explanatory, as well as detailed background information, examples and analysis. The resolution could be modified as desired with little time commitment. Advocates from across the nation are being sought to volunteer for this initiative for local governments’ resolutions in support of a federal carbon tax. In a matter of months, hundreds of local governments could pass versions of this resolution, sending a strong signal to the federal government that a carbon tax is politically possible. Could you volunteer an hour a week to work with a local government on this initiative for a few months? Do you know anyone who might? Please check out the above link or forward this email. ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
