There is little support for a carbon tax among conservatives. Not in Congress, not in the conservative movement, and certainly not among everyday voters.
Despite a deep-pocketed, full-court lobbying operation targeting GOP legislators, advocacy groups have convinced exactly one Republican in Congress to support carbon tax legislation.
This same congressman, Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida, just voted for a $15 minimum wage and is the only Republican co-signer on a bill creating government mandated prices in Medicare Part D — a long standing priority for the liberal left. Rooney backs a carbon tax because he wants to “kill off coal.”
How conservative.
Here’s the truth: When advocates can’t build support on the right for a carbon tax, they buy it instead.
In June, pollster Frank Luntz released a poll commissioned by the Climate Leadership Council, a pro-carbon tax organization. Luntz’s poll claims that 53% of Republican voters support CLC’s carbon tax plan. Luntz achieved CLC’s desired results by asking those surveyed if they support a “climate solution that charges fossil fuel companies for their carbon emissions and gives all the money directly to the American people through a quarterly check.”
Luntz omits key details such as skyrocketing energy costs or that CLC’s dividend plan limits families to half credits for children. They might as well ask people if they’d like free money from oil companies. The poll doesn’t show growing support on the right for a carbon tax, but it certainly proves Luntz can rig a poll if he’s paid to.
In July, CLC paraded Luntz and his poll in a mock hearing in front of the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis — an unofficial committee comprised of only Democratic senators and dubbed a political stunt by Republicans. Nothing could better capture the true makeup of the carbon tax lobby: A paid consultant presenting a misleading poll at a sham hearing of a fake Senate Committee organized by Democrats.
In reality, opposition to a carbon tax is about as unanimous as it gets on the right.
In a June letter sent to Congress, 89 free market organizations including Americans for Tax Reform, Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and the American Legislative Exchange Council all voiced their opposition to any form of a carbon tax. The official Republican party platform also rejects any carbon tax, while the Democrat party platform explicitly endorses one.
And at the state level, voters have consistently rejected carbon tax initiatives. In 2018, voters in the blue state of Washington rejected a carbon tax ballot initiative by a vote of 56 to 44.
In 2009, South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis was the first Republican in Congress to introduce a carbon tax. He was soundly defeated in his following primary by Trey Gowdy, losing 71% to 29%. And in 2018, former Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo became the first Republican since Inglis to roll out a carbon tax bill — a staggering $150 billion annual tax. Curbelo lost reelection in 2018 after winning by 12% previous cycle.
As it turns out, voters don’t like Republicans who threaten to raise taxes.
Both Curbelo and Inglis have since joined organizations lobbying for a carbon tax. That’s the swamp for you.
Carbon tax advocates typically make two false pitches to Republicans on Capitol Hill: that a carbon tax is a “market-based solution” and that their carbon tax is revenue neutral.
It should go without saying that there is nothing “market-based” about a carbon tax. Advocates assert that there’s an unaccounted “social cost of carbon” that markets have failed to price. Thus, the government must intervene through taxation to account for the purported cost.
One can certainly argue (incorrectly) that free-markets fail to reduce emissions and that intervention is required. But one cannot argue that such intervention is consistent with free-market principles.
On revenue neutrality, advocates point to Rooney’s carbon tax and dividend legislation. Rooney’s plan introduces a $15 per ton carbon tax set to ramp up by $10 per ton each year, creating a tax hike on autopilot, estimated at $1 trillion over a 10-year window. Because a carbon tax makes gasoline, household energy bills and everything in life more expensive, the Rooney bill calls for the federal government to then send monthly checks to every American.
This is not “revenue neutral.” It’s a tax and spend program.
In all other cases, revenue neutral means that taxes are cut as much as taxes have been raised Rooney’s carbon tax and dividend proposal includes no tax cuts. Instead, it raises revenue to bankroll an entirely new entitlement program, increasing the size and influence of government.
Here’s the kicker: the rebate checks the government would send back to individuals will count as taxable income under Rooney’s plan. Americans would be forced to pay taxes on apology checks sent by the government for raising taxes in the first place. At tax time, Americans would have to deal with carbon tax paperwork for each member of their family.
It’s no wonder conservatives are steering clear of a carbon tax. So it’s time for carbon tax advocates to take off the conservative mask, and at least be honest about their support for liberal policy.
Mike Palicz is federal affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform.
