Chohnny's Public Finance and Fiscal Management Blog 2016 - Article #2

China's parliament proposes new environmental tax benefits: State Media

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-tax-environment-idUSKCN11413L

For years China has been discussing new tax laws to reduce emissions from heavy industry. Now their parliament has proposed increasing tax benefits for companies that cut pollution by more than the national standard. I think this is a great way to encourage companies to reduce emissions and that it could be very effective. Rather than punishing companies and getting a lot of negative attention and feedback, this is an incentive that they can get behind. If it is passed, the companies would have to reduce emissions to at least half of the national requirement, and would then only pay half the taxes levied for air, water and soil pollution. However companies in the agriculture and transport sectors are excluded from the tax law because they are much smaller polluters than industrial companies such as steel, oil and coal. But I think they should be included in some way, to help encourage more environmentally conscious behaviors on their part as well. But this is a step in the right direction overall and I think people will react more positively to it.

Chohnny's Public Finance and Fiscal Management Blog 2016 - Article #1

With More People Hitting the Road, It’s Time for a Carbon Tax

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/with-more-people-hitting-the-road-its-time-for-a-carbon-tax/2016/09/11/87eb0f4a-7085-11e6-9705-23e51a2f424d_story.html?utm_term=.1f3a2e18f049

This article shows that despite efforts being made to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Americans are now burning record amounts of gasoline. The efforts that have been made to encourage a more sustainable and environmentally conscious nation are backfiring in some ways. The article states, "...higher fuel efficiency might also encourage some people to drive more than they would have otherwise, because their gas bills are lower." This shows that by improving technology and making cars more efficient people actually may be driving more. Therefore, the next step would be to enforce a carbon tax to ensure people are more conscious about both big and small actions that can help to reduce emissions overall. Although the Obama administration has worked towards this, it seems as though a carbon tax is out of reach for the time being, as it is talked about frequently but there are no actions by Congress to back it up.