You Endorse What Economic Plan?
Posted by Matt Zeitlin on May 12, 2008
When John McCain floated his inane idea for a gas tax holiday, it made it painfully clear that he isn’t on board for doing anything serious about climate change. That’s because, at least in the short term, we need to get fewer people driving, which means learning to deal with a world of high gas prices, instead of short-term gimmicks. One of the best summations of our need for higher gas prices is a piece by Harvard economist Keneth Rogoff in Foreign Policy, in which he talks about the need for 6 dollar a gallon gas.
The first thing the next American president should do upon taking office is to insist that the U.S. Congress pass a huge increase in gas taxes. To be more precise, the United States should implement steep carbon taxes that hit coal, heating oil, and natural gas. The tax should be enough to raise the price of gasoline by at least $2 a gallon.
Pretty drastic, don’t ya think? And certainly not a proposal endorsed by John “gas tax holiday” McCain. But wait, what’s that I see? Kenneth Rogoff endorsed McCain’s economic plan?
We enthusiastically support John McCain’s economic plan. It is a comprehensive, pro-growth, reform agenda. The reform focuses on the real economic problems Americans face today and will face in the future. And it builds on the core economic principles that have made America great.
His plan would control government spending by vetoing every bill with earmarks, implementing a constitutionally valid line-item veto, pausing non-military discretionary government spending programs for one year to stop their explosive growth and place accountability on federal government agencies.
One could argue that a carbon tax is technically “environmental policy,” but that’s a pretty silly distinction to make when a cornerstone of Rogoff’s ideal evnironmental policy is a huge tax levied on everyone who buys and sells carbon. Shouldn’t Rogoff hold out a bit longer before singing McCain’s high praises?
