Elon law professor Andrew Haile writes in a March 27 guest column for The Triad Business Journal that "our government should pursue important goals such as preserving the environment and reducing dependence on foreign oil to improve national security" but that a cap-and-trade system is not the best path to achieve those goals.
Haile, whose work focuses on business and corporate matters, particularly in the areas of tax law, mergers and acquisitions, and financing transactions, describes the Obama administration’s cap-and-trade proposal in the Business Journal column, highlighting revenue projections that such a system might achieve, but concludes that downsides to the plan ultimately outweigh its benefits.
Not only will the costs of a cap-and-trade system increase energy costs for consumers, Haile writes, it will likely saddle the country “with another bloated and ineffective regulatory agency.”
As a way to avoid the unnecessary bureaucracy, Haile contends, “If the government needs to reduce carbon emissions, then it should be honest with taxpayers and simply enact a carbon tax.”
To read Haile’s complete column, click on the link under E-Cast to the right.