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Does Cordato favor carbon taxes? McKitrick’s "innovative carbon tax proposal"

[Snark level – medium] 

[update below]

Austrian economist Roy Cordato is playing at collectivism by bringing favorable attention to Ross McKitrick’s “T3” carbon tax proposal on Cordato’s blog, Environment NC (hosted by the John Locke Foundation, where he is Vice President for Research & Resident Scholar). 

Says Dr. Cordato:

“Canadian economist/statistician Ross McKitrick has a good article in the Christian Science Monitor describing his innovative carbon tax proposal. The tax is tied to actual temperatures as measured in the tropical troposphere. It is an interesting approach in that it does not involve betting on the science coming from either side of debate.”

 McKitrick raised his intriguing carbon tax idea six months ago at the Financial Post

Steve McIntyre put the proposal up at the Climate Audit blog – in a post which is apparently still open for comment.  This tax was discussed on ealier on the Mises blog here. Some comments by yours truly litter both sites.

I’m not sure Dr. Cordato fully understands what he is up to – give the misanthropic enviros, “alternative energy” rent-seekers and their political gatekeepers an inch, and they’re guaranteed to take a mile.  If McKitrick’s idea gets any play at all, it’s probably to the effect that, despite his criticism of some scientific work, McKitrick thinks that climate change IS something to be taken seriously and that TAXES are an appropriate policy tool. 

Dr. Cordato seems determined to help move the Overton Window further in the direction of the Warmers.  Is he intentionally yielding ground?

[update:

I note that Austrians who oppose environmental measures that involve the coercive machnery of the state would probably dismiss such measures as “faux environmentalism”.  Here, the T3 proposal of McKitrick and favorably commented on by Dr. Cordato is an example of such “faux environmentalism”.  I guess that makes ME the “faux environmentalist” for drawing our dear readers’ attention to Dr. Cordato’s post.  My humble apologies!]

Categories: climate, cordato, enviros, mcintyre, mckitrick, tax Tags:
  1. TokyoTom
    December 26th, 2007 at 11:35 | #1

    Dr. Cordato:

    Thanks for your comments. Sorry, but I couldn’t help finding interesting the fact that you found McKitrick’s tax proposal interesting.

    I hope people will take a further look at it.

  2. Roy Cordato
    December 20th, 2007 at 21:33 | #2

    As a follow-up, I recently withheld my willingness to sign a statement on global warming policy until it eliminated some sentences that implied support for the tax. The language was subsequently changed.

  3. Roy Cordato
    December 20th, 2007 at 21:26 | #3

    Do not read more into the post than is there. I did not and do not endorse this or any other tax. What the tax proposal does do is call the alarmists’ bluff.

  4. jtucker
    December 10th, 2007 at 18:14 | #4

    Fascinating! Good eye.

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