Republican group calls for carbon tax in the US

A group of Republican elder statesmen is calling for a tax on carbon emissions to fight climate change, according to a report in the New York Times.

The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasury, says that taxing carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is "a conservative climate solution" based on free-market principles.

Baker was scheduled to meet White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, the senior adviser to the president, and Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, as well as Ivanka Trump, last week.

In an interview, Baker said that the plan followed classic conservative principles of free-market solutions and small government. He suggested that even former President Ronald Reagan would have blessed the plan: "I'm not at all sure the Gipper wouldn't have been very happy with this." He said he had no idea how the proposal would be received by the current White House or Congress.

Responding to the news on the Republican group's call for a carbon tax, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President and CEO Chet Thompson, said: "Imposing a carbon tax would go directly against President Trump's commitment to create American jobs and an "America First" policy by driving investment, energy development, and jobs overseas, and would hurt those who can least afford increased energy costs the most.

"Furthermore, the notion that a carbon tax would be returned directly to American taxpayers in the form of a rebate is naïve and I'm confident that President Trump understands the negative impacts this tax would have throughout the economy."