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Thoughts on a carbon tax / Adele Morris, Brookings, Brookings Institution blog, 8/11/2011http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/1107_carbon_tax_morris.aspxThe potential role for a carbon tax in a broader tax reform package is timely and economically important.  This paper addresses two aspects of the issue: the economics and the politics. It makes good economic sense to embed a carbon tax in a broader tax reform package.  If you’re going to “go big” on deficit reduction, it makes sense to include a carbon tax, and likewise if you’re going to do serious climate policy, it makes sense to raise revenue for deficit reduction or to offset other taxes.  Despite the strong economic case, the political challenges to a carbon tax are many, and they aren’t just from anti-tax Republicans who don’t believe in the science of climate change. Some of the headwind to a carbon tax derives from tepid enthusiasm from Democrats and the environmental community...