Republican Coalition Proposes a Carbon Tax to Fight Climate Change

"A group of Republican elder statesmen are calling for a tax on carbon emissions to fight climate change," reports John Schwartz.

"The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasury, says that taxing carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is 'a conservative climate solution' based on free-market principles," adds Schwartz.

As for the political clout the group holds in today's Washington, D.C., Baker is scheduled to meet with Trump Administration advisors at the White House to discuss the proposal this week.

"The Baker proposal would substitute the carbon tax for the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan," according to Schwartz in offering more details on the proposal. "At an initial price of $40 per ton of carbon dioxide produced, the tax would raise an estimated $200 billion to $300 billion a year, with the rate scheduled to rise over time."

As mentioned by Schwartz, another prominent former White House official, former presidential candidate and Vice President Al Gore, is also a proponent of the carbon tax as a means to address the threats of climate change. Another former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, chimed in on the proposal as well. 

Thought-provoking plan from highly respected conservatives to both strengthen the economy & confront climate risks: https://t.co/U6kmrQTPth

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) February 8, 2017