Opposition from a single moderate Democrat to corporate and income tax rate increases has revived efforts in the Senate to draft a tax on carbon dioxide pollution as a way to pay for the Democrats’ proposed $3.5 billion budget bill. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has not advocated a carbon tax, which President Biden and other key Democrats have shied away from as a huge political risk. But her resistance to tax rate increases to pay for the Democrats’ ambitious social policy and climate legislation has set off a scramble for alternatives. Ms. Sinema has said that climate change was a major concern that drives her approach to the spending bill. Climate activists are trying to make the case to Ms. Sinema that times, and climate politics, have changed.
By Jonathan Weisman and Coral Davenport. New York Times. September 24, 2021.
