Would a tax by any other name smell so sweet?

Dingell joins Republicans in calling cap-and-trade an ‘energy tax’ 1

It’s not just Republicans who are calling a cap-and-trade program a tax.  “Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax, and a great big one,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said at last Friday’s hearing with Al Gore on the House climate bill.

Dingell, who until last November chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee, asked Gore whether a cap-and-trade plan or an energy tax would be preferable as a means of addressing climate change.  “Every economist says that a carbon tax is a better, more efficient, fairer way of doing it,” Dingell said, noting that Europeans have failed in efforts to successfully implement a cap-and-trade program.  Gore answered that he favors using both systems.

Dingell has in the past put forward draft legislation calling for both a carbon tax and a cap-and-trade program.

Here’s video of his remarks last week, via Wonk Room:

Kate Sheppard is Grist’s political reporter.

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  1. Ken Johnson's avatar

    Ken Johnson Posted 12:15 pm
    28 Apr 2009

    If cap-and-trade is an 'energy tax', is that supposed to be good or bad? Dingell supports a carbon tax, so it must be good.

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