The Best Thing for Coal Country: A Coal Tax?
The best way to shore-up West Virginia’s coal country – anemic for years, but now positively swooning from plummeting demand – might be, of all things, a new federal tax on coal.
Strictly speaking, the fee wouldn’t be on coal but on the heat-trapping carbon emissions generated by burning coal and other fossil fuels. And it’s an idea that isn’t new. Environmentalists like a carbon price because it would encourage electric utilities to switch from coal to cleaner sources of energy, like natural gas, solar and wind. Some conservatives and many economists like it because it would fix a distortion in the market, accounting for costs not included in coal’s market price – such as health problems from emissions like soot or the broader consequences of global warming.
to know more- http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-11/the-best-thing-for-coal-country-a-coal-tax?int=a14709 .
