Putting a Price on Pollution

A tax by any other name will probably smell twice as sweet. Take for instance proposed programs to reduce carbon emissions which are identical in every nuance but the name. When people are presented with the choice of either a "carbon tax" or "carbon offset", the carbon offset will be chosen every time; same exact program, just different name. The human mindset instantly bristles at the mere mention of any kind of taxation. So in order not to offend the human psyche the government is proposing a cap and trade in the pricing of carbon emissions. In all of this the key is the reduction of carbon emissions, and ending the dependency on oil by creating a low carbon energy source. But to get to that point we need to "sweeten the pot" so to speak. Energy produced from a source with high carbon emissions will increase in price while energy from a low carbon emissions source will not, ultimately encouraging the development of more low carbon emission energy sources. The lower priced energy source will become the preferred choice of the people. I've always heard that everything has its price. Pollution it seems is no different.