On November 2nd, Mayor Bloomberg announced his support for a National Carbon Tax at a two-day climate protection summit in Seattle organized by the United States Conference of Mayors. Bloomberg urges that directly taxing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will slow global warming, promote economic growth and spur technological innovation. A full copy of the speech is provided by the New York Times.
The Mayor addresses the main sticking point between Carbon tax and Cap and Trade strategies, price. As Bloomberg makes his point he refers to the European Union attempt at cap and trade which has struggled with pricing uncertainty. he goes on to emphasize that "Employment is good, pollution is bad" and he suggests that Congress should "use the revenue from pollution pricing to cut the payroll tax". In doing so the carbon tax would become a revenue-neutral tax, a progressive form of pollution pricing that is also supported by Al Gore and the Carbon Tax Center