Tim McDonnell the American senior fellow on the Mother Jones Climate Desk has published an article titled ‘As Austerity Falters, European Economists Say “Price Carbon!”’ In the article McDonnell states “Turmoil over budget cuts roils Greek streets. France elects an anti-austerity president. Even Germany’s Austerity Queen Angela Merkel faces electoral backlash. It appears Europeans are getting sick of tightening their belts. But when you can’t cut any more, there’s little else to do but hustle up more cash. For governments allergic to raising income taxes, a European Climate Foundation analysis shows there’s a less painful way to slash deficits—one that could save the planet as it saves the economy: a carbon tax. The report argues that reforming how Europe taxes energy could, by 2020, cut some countries’ 2011 deficits in half. … As a bonus, the report found that carbon taxes improve energy security and can reduce climate-changing emissions by up to 2.5 percent. …But the tradeoff is that revenue could be looped back to Granny in the form of increased social services; under a similar scheme about to commence in Australia, over half the money raised from taxing carbon will be sent back to households via tax cuts and other assistance.”
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