Raising the cost of energy is a political loser. Chuck Devore writes:
If Paris streets burned over a proposed 30 cents per gallon climate change tax, imagine the global conflagration over a $49 per gallon tax.
That’s what a United Nations special climate report calls for in 12 years, with a carbon tax of $5,500 per ton—equal to $49 per gallon of gasoline or diesel. That’s about 100 times today’s average state and federal motor fuels tax.
By 2100, the U.N. estimates that a carbon tax of $27,000 per ton is needed—$240 per gallon—to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. [...]
Keep in mind that the unrest in France was triggered by a looming 25-cent hike, which is a little less than 10 percent more in taxes than French drivers already pay. To meet the $49 per gallon tax hike recommended by the U.N., fuel taxes in France would have to go up 17-fold. [...]
So how do climate activists get their way? Some openly talk of imposing authoritarian governance to override democratic institutions. Former NASA climate researcher James Hansensuggested in 2007 that “the democratic process does not work.” Other scientists have called the threat of global warming the equivalent of war while calling for the crushing of dissent and thejailing of “deniers.”
[Chuck DeVore, “Paris Is Burning Over Climate Change Taxes—Is America Next?” Forbes, December 7]
