The higher the number, the greater the government’s justification for compelling polluters to reduce the emissions that are dangerously heating the planet. During the Obama administration, White House economists calculated the social cost of carbon at $42 a ton. The Trump administration lowered it to less than $5 a ton. Under President Biden, the cost was returned to Obama levels, adjusted for inflation and set at $51.
The new estimate of the social cost of carbon, making its debut in a legally binding federal regulation, is almost four times that amount: $190 a ton.
Just saying. So much of our money is spent on forced QOL improvements. They are kind of like sin tax with cigarettes. It has become a huge part of what we pay just to live in the US.
There are sin taxes that are voluntary like the price of cigarettes. Don’t want to pay that much for them then stop smoking and everyone benefits. Liquor (at least in my state) is sold in state run stores, and at a huge markup. Once again don’t want to pay it, then don’t drink.
Then there are semi-voluntary sin taxes. For instance, the price of cars in the US. There are brand new car models being sold in third world countries by the same companies that sell in the US for cheap as hell. All because to sell a car here in the US they have to have extra safety features that cost a lot. Likewise in the US if you own a car it HAS to have insurance. That law isn’t that old comparatively speaking. I say these are semi-voluntary because in most parts of the US you HAVE to have a car, but technically you can live in the US without a car.
Then there are non-voluntary sin taxes. These would be sin taxes on fuel. Even if you don’t have a car. Your groceries get to the store with fuel. Yours probably comes from coal or petroleum. Putting a sin tax on these things raise the prices of everything for everyone. You can’t live without power. You can’t live without food. The the groceries have to be delivered, and kept at a reasonable temperature. The ripples from fuel alone are immeasurable. It takes fuel to grow it, get to the store, and keep it cool.
I’m saying that if it’s something that we can’t live without, and the government’s decides to make them pay more money. Then maybe the government needs to figure out a way that the cost doesn’t just get passed down to us.
Because if every time their bill goes up they pass it down to us. Well, then there is no incentive for them (the heavy polluters) to change.