The One Tax We Need

Tom Friedman's right. The one tax we really need is that on carbon. We need to tax the greenhouse gas emissions of various products, changing consumer buying power. Want a good example? I, like anyone who has done the math, have changed all my lightbulbs to CFL's, since they will save me abaout $10 each over the long run, even though they cost at least $2 more each compared to old fashioned light bulbs. But Joe the idiot doesn't see that. He sees the "weird curly" lightbulbs costing $3 while he can buy the old kind for $.50 cents. Well a carbon tax would probably make the old lightbulb cost $3.50 or more, making the decision more easy. In the end, he'd still save money, but this would be a good nudge in the right direction.