Jared Polis: “Now, let's take this back to basic economics. The Supreme Court itself said something along the lines of: power to tax…”

“Now, let's take this back to basic economics. The Supreme Court itself said something along the lines of: power to tax is the power to destroy. That is from an early 19th century case. Whatever you tax, you discourage in the economy. Whatever you don't tax, you encourage. So you have to look at what you tax. It's important. Let's take an example from corporations. We tax corporate profits. Well, it turns out corporate profits are a good thing. We tax individual income. It turns out individual income is a good thing. As policymakers, we shouldn't seek to discourage activities that help people earn money or help companies earn money. That is exactly what we want people to do. That is exactly what we want companies to do on behalf of their shareholders and their stakeholders. So why not take something that, regardless of what with you think of the science on climate change--and that is not central to this debate on a carbon tax cut. So let's even start from the assumption that you don't want to look at the science. You have turned a blind eye to it. You are not at all concerned about climate change, or you don't think it is manmade. Let's look, again, at carbon usage in our economy and the negative consequences of it: pollution, meaning air quality--not talking climate change--air quality, increased asthma, increased cancer risk.…”