Gore's Carbon Tax Makes Good Sense

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made clear what many environmentalists had begun to fear — Congress may not conclude work on climate change legislation in time for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change scheduled to take place this December in Copenhagen. This will be seen as a major setback for environmentalists — not to mention the planet. But it’s not too late to salvage the situation. Congress can go back to Al Gore’s original idea about how to deal with climate change: Raise taxes on carbon, and cut taxes on work. A carbon tax shift is one of those rare ideas that can take a political liability and turn it into a political asset — it allows Congress to vote for a tax cut and a tax increase while putting into place the financial incentives we need to transition to a noncarbon future. Here’s why.