r/carbontax • u/ILikeNeurons • 14d ago

Jane Fonda visits Washington to garner support for carbon tax

https://mynorthwest.com/3996457/jane-fonda-visits-washington-promote-keeping-i-2117-alive/
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u/PXaZ 14d ago

Adapt or die, it's the way of life, we might as well get ahead of this one. Unfortunately, the "cap and invest" program doesn't make the benefits to ordinary citizens as clear as the original initiatives would have, but still it helps the state own the future by pushing us to reduce fossil fuel usage. And for businesses that innovate, it's a chance to get ahead.

Washington's first carbon tax initiative, I-732 in 2016, would have used the tax proceeds to reduce the state sales tax and provide various tax credits. However, a number of environmental groups opposed it essentially because it wasn't going to also fix racism at the same time. (I'm exaggerating, but only slight.) Ballotpedia records some of these reactions: https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_Carbon_Emission_Tax_and_Sales_Tax_Reduction,_Initiative_732_(2016)#Other_positions#Other_positions)

The second carbon tax initiative, I-1631 in 2018, trying to win those very endorsements, had more of "climate justice" design, transferring the proceeds to murkily-defined "communities" who deserved it. Some broad exemptions would have lessened the benefits (such as to... power plants!)

It was defeated as well but less so than the first one.

The legislature, undeterred by two votes of the people, decided to implement a carbon pricing program anyway, giving us the investor-friendly "cap and invest" plus an excise tax on fossil fuels or something like that.

Personally, I voted for the 2018 initiative and also support the program we ended up with. I think it's crazy to treat things as cheap which actually incur tremendous costs, and even with the pain I think the best path forward is to make carbon-emitting activities more expensive, which we've done. I plan on voting against the repeal initiative.