Carbon tax: Exxon backs Obama plan to impose climate change fees

The Washington-based American Enterprise Institute [3], which says it advocates libertarian and conservative values, held a full-day discussion Nov. 13 to examine how best to implement a carbon tax, which its economists say could enable a cut in corporate taxes and head off regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency [4]. The same day, an opponent of the idea, the Competitive Enterprise Institute [5], filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department [6], seeking private e-mails it said would show the administration is secretly pushing for a carbon tax.

“They want new sources of revenues, and this is an enormous one,” Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Washington- based CEI [5], said in an interview. “This thing is gaining steam. If successful, it would be disastrous.”