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Exxon Mobil (XOM) is part of a growing coalition warming to the notion of a carbon tax as an...

  • Friday, November 16, 2012, 3:28 PM ET
    Exxon Mobil (XOM) is part of a growing coalition warming to the notion of a carbon tax as an alternative to costly regulation. A carbon tax may be gaining interest as lawmakers seek to simplify corporate taxes and raise revenue to narrow the deficit, though Sen. Ron Wyden says today that rounding up support for a carbon tax “is going to be a big lift politically.”
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This news story has 12 comments:

  •  
    Energy companies will not pay a carbon tax, we will, at the gasoline pump.
    16 Nov 2012, 03:34 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Fools. The carbon tax will be IN ADDITION TO the added regulations.
    Besides they will just pass on the tax to consumers.
    16 Nov 2012, 03:41 PM Reply Like
  •  
    that is true.. any business adds expenses to price that includes PROFIT. Business od any kind do not take risk without making a profit.. otherwise they go out of business.
    17 Nov 2012, 06:13 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Thanks Wyden for 'the big lift'!

    Inflation is the only way to erase the debt now, which is why they need the pretentious excuse of cap-n-trade to steal more money from the new tax and then let the energy companies inflate their prices to offset it.

    The little guy gets screwed again.
    16 Nov 2012, 03:45 PM Reply Like
  •  
    The gaming in the futures and secondary markets on emissions will largely benefit banks, while doing little to nothing to decrease pollution. The only reason some energy companies may back this is a proposal to allow them to receive initial contracts at no cost, with the idea that those companies can then resell those contracts on the secondary carbon market.

    A direct carbon tax would decline, due to improved efficiency and new technology reducing pollution. Just like gasoline taxes decline due to more efficient cars and different driving habits, a carbon tax would also decline over time.

    Watch the new California Carbon market get gamed by financial companies and hedge funds. The state will be lucky to see more than one year of any revenue improvement.
    16 Nov 2012, 03:47 PM Reply Like
  •  
    A carbon tax is not cap and trade and does not involve the futures industry. It is simply a tax on everyone and anything that generates carbon. Not sure how they will tax cows, but I am sure they will find a way. Previous comments are correct, the common man will pay more all in the name of being "green".
    16 Nov 2012, 04:13 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Addressed in my second paragraph. I tried to cover the two types of proposals in my short reply.
    16 Nov 2012, 04:24 PM Reply Like
  •  
    A carbon tax need not slow the economy down if, and only if, the revenues gatherred from it are used to reduce taxes elsewhere. The it would be economically neutral but would tilt incentives toward non-fossil fuel energy generation.
    16 Nov 2012, 04:04 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Economically neutral? Sure, kind of like temporary tax hikes or temporary toll roads. No chance this ends of being economically neutral, the cost to every business will be passed down to the consumers.
    16 Nov 2012, 04:15 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Gary
    "revenues gatherred from it are used to reduce taxes elsewhere."

    Only in the land of OZ.

    Keep this months utility bills and compare them four years from now.
    16 Nov 2012, 05:12 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Gary, how can a carbon tax be economically neutral when we have a world-wide economy? Will industry in Indonesia or China be paying carbon taxes? A carbon tax will simply export more American jobs overseas. World-wide redistribution of wealth.
    16 Nov 2012, 06:14 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Wow. Exxon on board with a carbon tax? If it sounds like an oxymoron, it is. I can see where they're coming from. $20 per tonne is inconsequential to them, but incrementally increases the competitive advantage of their businesses over coal. Not to mention that it's a proposal to stifle real regulation.

    Starting the discourse is a good start, though. Cap and trade was a farce. A carbon tax can conceptually work as an incentive to reduce emissions and transition to clean technologies. However, it needs to be designed to increase over time. The $20 per tonne is likely too insignificant to change the balance between dirty and clean technologies, but it needs to increase over time. That way it does not impact the economy near term and allows everyone time to adjust.

    However, seeing that Exxon has its paws in the bowl makes it painfully obvious that they will make sure the law is ineffective and inconsequential.
    19 Nov 2012, 09:07 PM Reply Like
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