LC 2.20 Lincoln Carbon Taxation Act (Statute)

[Former President tack50]

A Bill to Institute Cap-and-Trade Across Lincoln

1. The government of Lincoln shall set a cap on greenhouse emissions, this cap shall decrease annually by 15%
2. The initial cap shall be set by the incumbent Governor of Lincoln, when this bill is passed
3. Companies shall buy and sell permits to emit greenhouse gases, a company cannot emit greenhouse gases, if it does not have a permit. Initially, permits must be purchased from the government of Lincoln, for the price of $150 per permit, businesses may not sell permits to other companies for less than $70
4. The top 15% of businesses that emit the most greenhouse gases, shall be required to pay a penalty tax of 15% of their total value as a business to the government of Lincoln, for contributing to uncontrollable climate change
5. Electricity distributors must produce 45% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030
6. The government of Lincoln shall grant a subsidy of $75 billion to the wind energy industry and $85 billion to the solar energy industry, these subsidies shall be paid for by Lincoln reducing its AtlasCare benefits by $90 billion, the other $70 billion shall be raised from a hike of 120% on all existing Lincoln toll roads.
7. 42% of all vehicles produced in the region of Lincoln must be electricity powered, by the year 2025

Sponsor: S019

Debate time for this bill has started and shall last for no less than 72h

[Former President tack50]

Amendment L 2:32 by S019 to LC 2.20 A Bill to Institute Cap-and-Trade Across Lincoln

A Bill to Institute Cap-and-Trade Across Lincoln

1. The government of Lincoln shall set a cap on greenhouse emissions, this cap shall decrease annually by 15%
2. The initial cap shall be set by the incumbent Governor of Lincoln, when this bill is passed
3. Companies shall buy and sell permits to emit greenhouse gases, a company cannot emit greenhouse gases, if it does not have a permit. Initially, permits must be purchased from the government of Lincoln, for the price of $150 per permit, businesses may not sell permits to other companies for less than $70
4. The top 15% of businesses that emit the most greenhouse gases, shall be required to pay a penalty tax of 15% 10% of their total value as a business to the government of Lincoln, for contributing to uncontrollable climate change
5. Electricity distributors must produce 45% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030
6. The government of Lincoln shall grant a subsidy of $75 $60 billion to the wind energy industry and $85 $70 billion to the solar energy industry, these subsidies shall be paid for by Lincoln reducing its AtlasCare benefits by $90 billion, the other $70 billion shall be raised from a hike of 120% on all existing Lincoln toll roads the method for funding these subsidies shall be determined in Lincoln's annual budget.
7. 42% of all vehicles produced in the region of Lincoln must be electricity powered, by the year 2025

8. This bill takes effect, six months after being signed by the governor

Sponsor feedback: Origination
Status: Added to the bill

[Former President tack50]

I have to say that regional cap and trade is an excellent idea, though this bill certainly needs a larger rework.

I also wonder how it would interact with the current federal carbon taxes. However, given the dire situation regarding climate change, cap and trade is a good idea.

It is also an expensive bill as well regarding point 6; especially as I believe we will have problems doing the budget (though I am afraid not much has been done on that front)

[Former President tack50]

Yeah, this bill looks fine and cap and trade is a good policy, but a carbon tax is better. And we already have a federal carbon tax. A regional carbon tax on top of the federal one might be a good idea to raise some revenue (and cut Lincoln's likely deficit, though I've been unable to make any progress in the bugdet reciently) though the exact level needs to be discussed obviously.

[Former President tack50]

Ok, so what should we do with this? Should we try to pass it? Table it? Amend it somehow?

I will say this certainly needs some analysis.

[Former President tack50]

Ok, if we are going to want to move forward with this we are going to have to debate it more.

[Old amendment]

Actually you know what? I'm retiring the amendment. We should probably turn this into a proper carbon tax that will allow the region to bring in a lot of revenue to save our deficit.

[Former President tack50]

I present the following amendment, which pretty much rips off Fremont's regional Carbon Tax.

This amendment shall replace the bill in its entirety

Amendment L 2:49 to LC 2.20 A Bill to Institute Cap-and-Trade Across Lincoln

Lincoln Carbon taxation act
AN ACT to combat climate change through the taxation of carbon

Title I (Title of the Act)
i. The full name of this act is the "Lincoln Carbon Taxation Act of 2019"

Title II (Taxation Procedure)
i. This act shall place a tax of $20 on fossil fuel companies for every ton of carbon they extract from the ground, with the tax rising 2% each year. This means that in 2020 the tax would be $20.40, in 2021 it would be $20.81, etc.

Title III (Revenue Collection)
i. The tax will raise 35.03 billion dollars in revenue in its first year, and the amount of revenue raised will continue to go up each year as the tax increases.

Title IV (CO2 Emissisons)
i. The tax will reduce CO2 emissions by 77 million metric tons in its first year of implementation, and the amount of CO2 emissions reduced will continue to go up each year as the tax increases.

Title V (Implementation)
i. All titles of this act will be immediately implemented after the passage of this act into law.

Sponsor feedback: 24h hours to specify, otherwise assumed unfriendly
Status: Waiting for sponsor. Other councillors can also object.

Here's Fremont's law for reference
https://uselectionatlas.org/AFEWIKI/index.php/Fremont_Carbon_Taxation_Act_of_2017

Also, we will need input from the GM department to fill in the gaps. Title IV is optional, but getting Title III right is important since we need to pass a budget

[Former President tack50]

Well, that was quick.

Anyways, I've included the numbers in the amendment.

[Former President tack50]

With no objections, Amendment L 2:49 is adopted.

Regarding metric vs imperial; I just copied and pasted from Fremont. I personally prefer metric for obvious reasons But even then metric is generally better for scientific usages.

Also, I wonder, why is the number for Lincoln so low compared to Fremont?

According to the wiki, FT raises 112 billion dollars and expects to reduce CO2 by 250 million metric tons.

Meanwhile we only get 35 billion and reduce CO2 by 77 million metric tons?

I don't think Lincoln is that small compared to Fremont. Is this because of Fremont having more polluting industries or something RL?

[Former President tack50]

I motion for a final vote, 24 hours to object

[Former President tack50]

Councillors, a FINAL vote is now open on the following legislation

Lincoln Carbon taxation act
AN ACT to combat climate change through the taxation of carbon

Title I (Title of the Act)
i. The full name of this act is the "Lincoln Carbon Taxation Act of 2019"

Title II (Taxation Procedure)
i. This act shall place a tax of $20 on fossil fuel companies for every ton of carbon they extract from the ground, with the tax rising 2% each year. This means that in 2020 the tax would be $20.40, in 2021 it would be $20.81, etc.

Title III (Revenue Collection)
i. The tax will raise 35.03 billion dollars in revenue in its first year, and the amount of revenue raised will continue to go up each year as the tax increases.

Title IV (CO2 Emissisons)
i. The tax will reduce CO2 emissions by 77 million metric tons in its first year of implementation, and the amount of CO2 emissions reduced will continue to go up each year as the tax increases.

Title V (Implementation)
i. All titles of this act will be immediately implemented after the passage of this act into law.

Please vote AYE, NAY or Abstain
This vote shall last for 48 hours or until all Councillors have voted

[Former President tack50]

Aye

[Former President tack50]

The FINAL vote on LC 2.20 Lincoln Carbon Taxation Act is now closed

Aye: 6 (tack50, Pyro, SNJC, lfromnj, Griffin, Zaybay)
Abstain: 0
Nay: 1 (thr33)
Not voting: 2 (Dipper Josh, Ninja)

So this bill passes