This election, Washington voters can make history: they can adopt the first U.S. tax on carbon pollution.
To approve I-732 is to take a concrete practical and fair step to fight climate change. A …
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This election, Washington voters can make history: they can adopt the first U.S. tax on carbon pollution.
To approve I-732 is to take a concrete practical and fair step to fight climate change. A similar tax passed in British Columbia in 2008 has successfully reduced per-person fossil fuel consumption by 16 percent and also held down income taxes.
Like B.C.’s tax, I-732 is revenue-neutral: It shifts taxes from sales and manufacturing onto carbon pollution. Arguments that I-732 doesn’t help low-income and minority communities miss a major point: These communities typically benefit most from lower sales taxes, which take a proportionally bigger bite from low incomes than from high.
By also lowering certain business taxes, I-732 offers incentive to keep manufacturing jobs in Washington. And unlike most of our tax code, I-732 harnesses the profit motive in favor of environmental values – a win-win that we cannot afford to pass up.
ELLEN W. CHU
Port Townsend
