A recent letter suggested we'd be remiss if we didn't enact a carbon tax. After taxing our use of fossil fuels, what exactly is the plan to save us? A few well-connected businessmen probably will profit, but the carbon taxpayers, will be left with even less money to pursue their own carbon-reducing ideas.
Here in Tennessee, if a homeowner wants to install solar and reduce "carbon pollution," he must apply to TVA. Yet, TVA only authorizes a total of 4 megawatts of new home solar each year. A 7.5-kilowatt solar system produces about $100 of electricity per month. So, each year , in the entire state, the TVA permits only 530 new home solar systems of this size. Larger home systems result in even fewer homes permitted.
So government must get profit-oriented businesses out of our way. Then, if the government promised to refund all the carbon taxes collected in the form of tax credits for installing - solar systems, battery backups, wind generators, geothermal systems, electric vehicles and other energy-saving ideas - a carbon tax might actually do some good.