Is Michael Bloomberg America's Ken Livingstone?

"New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for a national greenhouse gas tax on Friday, Nov. 2, saying it would slow global warming and fund a $500 a year tax cut for the average taxpayer."

Bloomberg acknowledged the regressiveness of a carbon tax:

"The energy industry likely would pass on the cost of the new tax to the consumer, the mayor admitted on his weekly ABC radio show. "So yes, it gets passed on, but the people who suffer the most get the benefit in the other direction, and the whole world benefits because we pollute less," he explained."

Congress has apparently chosen to ignore the carbon tax approach and is considering a "cap and trade" pricing system approach instead.

"But Bloomberg, a former Republican whose switch to the independent party earlier this year sparked speculation of a presidential bid, slammed the cap-and-trade approach.

"The primary flaw of cap-and-trade is economic -- price uncertainty; while the primary flaw of a pollution fee is political -- the difficulty of getting it through Congress."

From NYT blog:

"Mr. Bloomberg presented his carbon tax proposal (in a Friday, Nov.2 speech) at a two-day climate protection summit in Seattle organized by the United States Conference of Mayors. In calling for a carbon tax, Mr. Bloomberg was again speaking out on national issues, as he has on gun control and public health matters like smoking and obesity."

Thanks to Rafael Aguilera