Is a Carbon Tax Unlikely or Inevitable?

About a week after Hurricane Sandy hit and left the coast battered, new talks about climate change have been started by both Republicans and Democrats.  Residents of New York and New Jersey want answers on why this record-shattering storm happened.  And somewhere in these climate conversations by both parties, the highly controversial carbon tax was discussed.  

A carbon tax is a tax that will make people pay more for fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere—the most common being oil, coal, and gas.  


Two Major Effects of a Carbon Tax:

• The Brookings Institution claims a "modest carbon tax" would generate $150 billion a year for the government
• The increased prices would curb the usage of fossil fuels that are used to power America

This idea of a carbon tax was once faced, and still faces, opposition.

Mark Muro of the liberal Brookings Institution claims that a hypothetical tax of $20 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions would increase the price of gas and electricity by up to 9 to 10 percent.  In fact, President Obama tried to pass a moderate climate change bill to limit the amount of pollution from power plants, but the idea never passed through the Senate.

But, even with its opposition, the idea of a carbon tax is being discussed by both parties.  A 19 page paper was released by the Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday discussing ways to make a carbon tax less impactful on the poor, and the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning institute, held a discussion of it on Tuesday.

For now, we will have to wait and see if anymore develops since a White House official said the administration has no plans to advocate a carbon tax yet.  

 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57550240/climate-change-talk-heats-up-revisits-carbon-tax/
This article was published November 15, 2012 by the Associated Press and included research and opinions from both Republican and Democratic people and institutions.

"Blue line: MIT reference case with no carbon tax. Black line: EIA reference. Green line: Scenario with MIT carbon tax in place."
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/27/how-a-carbon-tax-could-help-the-u-s-avert-the-fiscal-cliff/

How would carbon taxes affect American car companies?