Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In

Streetsblog contributor Charles Komanoff, along with Daniel Rosenblum, today announce the foundation of their new organization, the Carbon Tax Center. The Center's mission is "to educate and inform policymakers, opinion leaders and the public, including grassroots organizations, about the benefits of and critical need for significant, rising and equitable taxes on carbon emissions from fossil fuels." My favorite part so far? The title of their e-newsletter, "An Inconvenient Tax." Check out their presentation above.

Why carbon taxes? Why a Carbon Tax Center?Charging American businesses and individuals a price to emit carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential to reduce U.S. emissions quickly and steeply enough to prevent atmospheric concentrations of CO2 from reaching an irreversible tipping point. It's a basic economic principle that prices of goods and services should reflect ("internalize" as the economists say) all of the societal costs (such as pollution) that production of the goods or services imposes on society. Yet the prices of gasoline, electricity and other fossil fuels don't include many of these societal costs, particularly their impact on global warming. The necessary transformation of our fossil fuels-based energy system to reliance on energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable fuels simply won't happen without carbon taxes sending accurate and powerful price signals into every corner of the economy and every aspect of life.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Cough, Cough: DEP Considers Largest Ever Exemption Request to City’s Anti-Idling Law

Academy Bus claims no technological alternatives exist for heating and cooling buses without idling. Advocates warn an exemption would "gut" the city's 50-year-old idling ban.

October 23, 2025

Truckers to US DOT: Busways Are Good for Us!

The federal government has obviously lost its trucking mind.

October 23, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines: Protect The Election Edition

How to be a bike monitor at election sites. Plus other news.

October 23, 2025

Who’s Your Train Daddy? Penn Station Boss Andy Byford All But Solicits Bribe For Donald Trump

Andy Byford is back in New York to build a shiny new Penn Station, but he's already admitted he's not the guy in charge.

October 22, 2025

HEAVY TRAFFIC: Driving Continues to Rise, Undermining Literally Every Effort to Make the City Better

The trend of increased vehicle miles traveled undermines safety initiatives, pollution reduction efforts and the traffic mitigation of congestion pricing, a new report makes clear.

October 22, 2025
See all posts