A former GOP Congressman is in Athens making a case for a carbon fee and dividend system. Bob Inglis, Executive Director of republicEN.org wants more conservatives to support the measure. He says under the plan, pollution would actually be taxed. That means consumers would pay at the meter or pump.
"It's actually real easy to tell because a pretty clear indication that for example a $25 per ton price in carbon dioxide would turn into 25 cents per gallon at the gas pump," said Inglis.
That tax would get progressively higher, but Inglis believes innovations would be made in a free market system. He says 70 % of consumers would either receive dividends or cuts in individual, corporate or payroll taxes.
"So yeah that swap on carbon pollution and off income, so that incomes rise and emissions go down, that's a good deal. I'm going to find students here at the University of Georgia who plan on living longer on this planet than their grandparents and perhaps great-grandparents," said Inglis. "And they want to see this change come about. And a good number of them are conservatives. They want my party, the Republican Party, to be the Grand Opportunity Party, rather than the Grumpy Old Party."
He supports whatever measures would cut pollution without growing the government.
The former Congressman says he’s faced the most resistance from those involved in what he calls old energies, or fossil fuels.
Inglis is speaking at UGA’s Miller Learning Center Monday afternoon at 4:30. Members of the community are invited to attend the “Finding the Courage to Come Together on Climate Change” discussion. It's part of www.republicEn.org tour around the nation speaking to citizens and addressing lawmakers about the need to develop free-enterprise solutions to climate change.
