Clinton and McCain's Gasoline Tax/Carbon Market Conundrum

Ronald Bailey | April 30, 2008

Both Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) favor a "gasoline tax holiday" this summer. For three months the burden of the 18 cents per gallon federal gas tax would be lifted. That's good politics since motorists now paying more than $60 per fill up would be happy.

But wait. Don't both senators support imposing a cap-and-trade market on carbon emissions to combat man-made global warming? In a Washington Post op/ed last year, two RAND researchers calculated that a relatively modest $30 per ton of carbon carbon dioxide price would boost gasoline prices by 35 cents per gallon (and household electricity bills by 20 to 30 percent).

I'm sure that the public would just love to hear some "straight talk" about that.

See Reason Foundation transportation maven Robert Poole's response to the gas tax holiday proposal here.