CC says: "big polluters would still pay for their carbon emissions, but the money would go to the taxpayers in a similar way that people in Alaska get a dividend from the oil companies for the oil they take from Alaska. This money could be used by the taxpayers to pay for more fuel efficient means of transportation."

I am not trying to be argumentative here but anytime a tax or any kind of fee is imposed, a higher price shows up somewhere. In the case of energy. It shows up everywhere from food to electricity.

The people in Alaska my benefit but the extra expense is passed on to the rest of America.

There is always the unintended consequences. It takes 1 gallon of fuel to produce 1.35 gallons of corn ethanol. The use of corn causes the price of corn to rise for people all over the world.

In Brazil they destroy the rain forest to make more land to grow soybeans for diesel fuel.

Burning bio diesel still produces the same amount of CO2 but now there is less rain forest to convert the CO2 back into O2.

And it raises the price of soybean products all over the world.

I am all for more efficient use of energy, cleaner sources of energy and less pollution but I don't think taxing things is the answer. It always ends up hurting the little guy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/22/quarter-us-grain-biofuels-food