Submitted by Stephen Dunne on November 14, 2018 - 12:53pm
In 2016, state of Washington tried to enact a carbon tax through initiative 732 but failed with 41 percent vote. Initiative 732 failed because environmental, labor and social justice group opposed the design of policy that tax revenues go back to citizen and business instead of climate action. As of Nov. 8, I-1631, a “revenue positive” proposal that would generate new tax revenue annually and allocate the revenue to various climate project, has secured only 43.67 percent of the vote. The reason for failure is straightforward: Washingtonians do not like new taxes, especially when they perceive benefits from the tax increase going to group outside of their community.
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