Larson Carbon Tax Bill: America's Energy Security Trust Fund Act (HR 3416) 1
Just before the August recess, Congressman John B. Larson (D-Conn.) introduced HR 3416, a federal carbon tax proposal that follows the basic model of Al Gore’s carbon tax recommendation.
Elements:- Covers coal, petroleum, and natural gas
- Only regulates carbon dioxide content, not other GHG emissions (the bill calls for a proposal to cover those emissions within 6 months of enactment)
- Tax starts at $15 per ton and rises at 10% faster than the cost of living adjustment each year
- Tax refunds or credits include feedstock and any offset project other than enhanced oil recovery, and all exports
- Revenues raised go into “America’s Energy Security Trust Fund”. 1/6 up to $10 billion goes to clean energy technology R&D, 1/12 goes to industry relief (declining to zero by 2017), and the remainder goes to offset payroll taxes.
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The bill has been reintroduced as “America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act 2009” – HR 1337
The bill will not reduce CO2 because the bill does not require reductions. The bill taxes the CO2 but the cost is simply passed on to the end user who in turn receives a rebate from the cabon taxes based on Social Security of Payroll taxes.
The tax will bring into the government $28.30 trillion dollars yet the government will rebate-credit back out $27.9 trillion (98.5% with $27.854 trillion to individuals and $45 billion to affected industries) with the other $400 billon for clean energy.
The above figures are based the 41 years of tax life (2009 – 2049) with an annual reduction of 134 million tons of CO2, 2.5% of the 6.6 billion short tons of CO2