Your criticisms of a carbon tax seem to apply directly to cap-and-trade if the incorrect amount is chosen. Later governments can change the cap upwards or accelerate it's downward descent too, and may well need to if the science changes or other governments do nothing.
And if you want to hand billions in tax credits to current carbon polluters so they don't fight the tax, you can do that with a carbon tax too. I'd actually recommend doing this for ordinary people, so that you don't hurt people with current high-carbon lifestyles too much, but still offer an incentive to save carbon/money, possibly a phase in would be required as is generally proposed for cap and trade.
I'm also wondering how a carbon cap and trade system could be effective and yet not result in a raise in gas prices in the US? That's surely the whole point?
>Your criticisms of a carbon tax seem to apply directly to cap-and-trade if the incorrect amount is chosen. Later governments can change the cap upwards or accelerate it's downward descent too, and may well need to if the science changes or other governments do nothing.
In fairness, this can be a lot more difficult politically than raising or lowering a tax. Compare:
"Oh jeez, if we don't issue enough taxi medallions, we can just issue more later, or remove the requirement altoghether." (And have people who bought them scream bloody murder.)
And if you want to hand billions in tax credits to current carbon polluters so they don't fight the tax, you can do that with a carbon tax too. I'd actually recommend doing this for ordinary people, so that you don't hurt people with current high-carbon lifestyles too much, but still offer an incentive to save carbon/money, possibly a phase in would be required as is generally proposed for cap and trade.
I'm also wondering how a carbon cap and trade system could be effective and yet not result in a raise in gas prices in the US? That's surely the whole point?