OPINION/COMMENTARY

Global Warming Tax

Duke Energy, a leading U.S. electricity and gas utility, announced this week its support for a global warming tax — essentially a consumption tax on consumers of gasoline, oil, natural gas and coal. The tax is intended to reduce energy use and resulting emissions of greenhouse gases. Duke calls it a “carbon tax,” but we might call it the “Greenpeace tax” in honor of the various radical environmental groups, like Greenpeace, pushing global warming hysteria and supporting such a tax. But we could also call it the “corporate appeasement tax” in honor of businesses like Duke Energy that are stumbling over themselves to curry favor with the Greens. Duke’s announcement apparently is the idea of its Australian CEO, Paul Anderson, who explained it to Australian media in March as follows, “Every time somebody buys something at the store (they) pay a 10 per cent tax, based on how much carbon was in the fuel that they consumed.” Duke prefers the “carbon tax” to other options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as those known as cap-and-trade and the Kyoto Protocol....

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