A bill that would tax carbon dioxide emissions from oil, natural gas, and coal in Massachusetts has 107 co-sponsors in the 200-member state Legislature – all of them Democrats.
HD.2370 calls for charging $20 per ton of carbon dioxide unit in the first year, then increasing the tax $5 per ton every year until it reaches $40 per ton in the fifth year, with further increases slated if the state’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs determines that “actual emissions have exceeded the annual emissions target for that calendar year.”
The state tax, according to the Massachusetts bill, would apply to “any greenhouse gas-emitting matter, in addition to natural gas, petroleum, coal, and any solid, liquid or gaseous fuel derived therefrom, as a greenhouse gas-emitting priority for the purposes of this chapter; except that emissions from farm animals and crops shall not be designated greenhouse gas-emitting priorities.”
The bill calls the tax “charges.” A portion of the money would go into a fund that would provide rebates for gasoline and heating fuel to the poorest 60 percent of Massachusetts residents, according to the bill.
Thirty percent of the money collected in carbon taxes would go into what the bill calls a Green Infrastructure Fund, which is supposed to be used to provide public subsidies for public transportation, electric cars, charging stations for electric cars, and expanding so-called renewable energy like wind and solar power, among other things.
The bill as of Monday, February 11 had 95 sponsors in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and 12 sponsors in the Massachusetts Senate.
The Massachusetts House has 160 members. The Massachusetts Senate has 40 members.
