Comments on: Right Conclusion, Wrong Solution http://www.terrarossa.com/right-conclusion-wrong-solution/ Where Conservatives Consider a New Energy Future Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:23:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Terra Rossa » Cap vs. Tax http://www.terrarossa.com/right-conclusion-wrong-solution/#comment-15832 Terra Rossa » Cap vs. Tax Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:45:48 +0000 http://www.terrarossa.com/right-conclusion-wrong-solution/#comment-15832 [...] week a Terra Rossa reader wondered how I could think cap and trade is a better – and more conservative – solution to climate [...] [...] week a Terra Rossa reader wondered how I could think cap and trade is a better – and more conservative – solution to climate [...]

]]> By: Daniel http://www.terrarossa.com/right-conclusion-wrong-solution/#comment-15568 Daniel Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:18:30 +0000 http://www.terrarossa.com/right-conclusion-wrong-solution/#comment-15568 How is the real conservative solution intrusive government regulation instead of intrusive government taxation? What is the difference from an ideological perspective between the two? Both are "another form of government control over the marketplace." For a conservative, one reason a tax is preferable to a cap-and-trade system is because a tax is transparent. People know exactly how much the government is charging them. Also a tax is explicitly from the government. That's not the case with cap and trade. Cap and trade forces private parties to pass on the costs, obscuring the costs of the program. There is no such thing as a "market-based cap and trade policy" because government has to set the cap and allocate the allowances. That isn't a market transaction and is more fraught with danger of political favoritism and abuse than a tax is. Both cap and trade and taxes are "just another form of government control over the marketplace." I can't see how you can argue that cap and trade is the "real conservative solution." How is the real conservative solution intrusive government regulation instead of intrusive government taxation? What is the difference from an ideological perspective between the two? Both are “another form of government control over the marketplace.”

For a conservative, one reason a tax is preferable to a cap-and-trade system is because a tax is transparent. People know exactly how much the government is charging them. Also a tax is explicitly from the government. That’s not the case with cap and trade. Cap and trade forces private parties to pass on the costs, obscuring the costs of the program.

There is no such thing as a “market-based cap and trade policy” because government has to set the cap and allocate the allowances. That isn’t a market transaction and is more fraught with danger of political favoritism and abuse than a tax is.

Both cap and trade and taxes are “just another form of government control over the marketplace.” I can’t see how you can argue that cap and trade is the “real conservative solution.”

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