Noted conservative economist Aurthur Laffer, writing in Dec 18, 2008 WSJ op-ed Obama Should Forget About Energy Independence says he “strongly supports” the idea of an carbon tax offsetted against payroll taxes, calling it a “win-win”…
“The only real solution is Al Gore’s proposal to offset a carbon tax dollar-for-dollar with either an income or payroll tax reduction. If a carbon tax increase were offset dollar-for-dollar with an income tax rate cut, I for one would strongly support the policy. The economy would benefit because the progressive income tax does far more damage than a carbon tax would, and we’d use less oil. It’s a win-win situation. Yet this perspective appears to be totally outside the Obama team’s ken.”