Washington’s carbon tax

Voters in Washington state will be asked next month whether they want to adopt the nation’s first carbon tax. You’d think environmental groups would be doing everything they can to back that idea. You’d be wrong.

Initiative 732 will be on the ballot on Election Day. It calls for a $25 US-per-ton carbon tax, and it says how the proceeds should be spent: Trim the state’s sales tax, cut taxes on manufacturers and give tax rebates to lowincome households.

Oddly enough, this plan has failed to impress some environmental campaigners. Washington Conservation Voters, an influential local organization, opposes it because none of the revenue will go toward funding clean energy. Climate Solutions, another local group, agrees. The Sierra Club won’t back the plan, saying its help for low-income households and minorities is insufficient.

The part of the plan that seems to offend the campaigners — how the carbon-tax revenues ought to be used — is worth debating, but what matters most is to put a price on carbon, reflecting its true cost to the environment. Promising that the revenues from the carbon tax will be used to cut taxes and support low-income working families seems wise. But the main thing is that the measure shouldn’t fail merely because it doesn’t please every group on every point.

The latest polling shows 42 per cent of respondents supporting the plan, with 37 per cent against and 21 per cent undecided.

If it fails for lack of support from climate campaigners, those groups should be ashamed.