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When will CARB recognize that global warming is an emergency, and
stop relying entirely on voluntary measures to deal with it?  For
some inexplicable reason, the words "carbon tax" are not even
mentioned in your Proposed AB32 Scoping Plan.  Your euphemism for
it, "carbon fee", is only mentioned in passing but then promptly
ignored, as if "tax" is unthinkable.  No wonder the state is going
bankrupt!

A carbon tax would be a much simpler, more direct, and more
effective device for cutting carbon emissions than virtually
anything else offered in the Scoping Plan.  A gradually increasing
carbon tax, starting at 5 cents per gallon ($20 per ton of emitted
carbon) and increasing 5 cents per year between now and 2100, would
motivate practically everybody in the state to reduce their
consumption of fossil fuels, without all the expensive
micromanaging of the "Carbon Economy" envisioned by most of the
contributors to the Scoping Plan.  There is nothing like a punitive
tax or fee to deter unwanted behavior.  Phasing it in slowly but
surely will minimize the pain to consumers, avoid a disruptive
stampede away from fossil fuels, and eventually wean even the rich
from fossil fuels.

This form of carbon tax could also alleviate the state's budget
problems by generating a reliable revenue stream.  It would grow
during the early years at a predictable pace, and shrink in the
later years as fossil fuel consumption is driven down by the ever
more burdensome tax rate.  By then the burgeoning Green Economy
would provide a tax base that compensates for the falling carbon
tax revenues.