Survey: Public strongly favors revenue-neutral carbon fee

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from a report just issued by Yale University and George Mason University; see highlighted passage

Politics & Global Warming, September 2021

As Congress considers President Biden’s ”Build Back Better” bill, we are pleased to release a new report “Politics & Global Warming” (executive summary) (full report) based on our latest national survey, conducted in September 2021. Overall, we find that public support for climate and clean energy policies has increased since our last study in March. Large majorities of registered voters, including many Republicans, support a variety of climate and energy policies, including many currently being considered by Congress:

  • 86% support providing tax incentives or rebates to homeowners, landlords, and businesses to make existing buildings more energy efficient.
  • 81% support funding more research into renewable energy sources.
  • 81% support providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
  • 79% support providing tax incentives or rebates to homeowners, landlords, and businesses to purchase appliances that can be powered without burning fossil fuels.
  • 75% support setting aside 30% of America’s lands and waters for conservation by 2030.
  • 75% support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
  • 74% support requiring publicly traded corporations to disclose how much carbon pollution they produce.
  • 70% support transitioning the U.S. economy (including electric utilities, transportation, buildings, and industry) from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050.
  • 70% support increasing federal funding to low-income communities and communities of color who are disproportionally harmed by air and water pollution.
  • 69% support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a tax on the carbon pollution they produce, and using that revenue to reduce other taxes (such as the federal income tax) by an equal amount [i.e., a revenue-neutral carbon tax].
  • 66% support requiring electric utilities to produce 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2035.
[Click to enlarge]

The full report includes many other important findings, including public support for declaring climate change a national emergency, developing clean energy vs. fossil fuel as a strategy to grow the economy and create jobs, who should act to reduce global warming, and support for policies by state and local governments.

As always, thanks for your interest and support!

Cheers,

Tony
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