Global warming tax: 20 cents per gallon?

Would you pay an extra "carbon tax" at the pump to kick start a climate-change action plan? That's what three senators are proposing  

A new tax might raise the price of gas even higher.
(Image credit: Flickr)

Big Oil gave initial "cap and trade" legislation an icy reception. Now, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have a new proposal that's being called climate change's "Hail Mary": To place a "carbon tax" on gasoline. Likely to be passed on to drivers at the pump, the tax would start at 10 cents per gallon, rising to 20 cents after 10 years — with the revenue funnelled into clean-energy research or subsidies for hybrid cars. Will oil companies, not to mention drivers, buy it?

The senators' plan is too weak to work: The oil industry needs real incentive to cut down on pollution, says Tom Fowler in The Houston Chronicle, and a tax of a dime or two a gallon doesn't cut it. Recent history has shown that Americans won't cut back on driving until the price of gas reaches $4 a gallon. This plan will merely help oil companies blame the government whenever consumers complain about expensive gas.

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