[sokoloff]

There’s no (non-political) reason that we couldn’t issue a refundable tax credit of $1000/yr (or another amount) to every full-year resident and increase taxes on fossil fuels by an amount such that a median consumer of fossil fuels would break even.

The purpose of the tax is to better align choices with consequences, not to raise revenue. It can be revenue-neutral or even cost money for administrative overhead.

[_aavaa_]

You need a carbon tax, and one that also imposes itself on imports so that other countries can’t cheat.

Canadians have a system similar to this. Everyone pays a carbon tax. 10% of the total pool is skimmed and used by the government for climate related things, and only climate related things. Then the rest of the money is split evenly among everyone.

The poorer people come out ahead since they use less (e.g. can’t afford a car and take public transit) and thus paid less than the average but receive the average amount back.

[gs17]

IMO it's better to call it "fee and dividend", "carbon tax" has a lot of baggage associated with it. I'm a strong supporter of it, but if you say "tax" you'll immediately get people (people who would benefit from such a system regardless of climate effects) insisting it will all go to the government.