tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448927642739850334.post3405530968645248096..comments2023-10-29T08:06:00.610+00:00Comments on The Political Economist: Explaining the US "fiscal cliff"Vuk Vukovichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01878567452492217960noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448927642739850334.post-49398156842337311512012-12-17T22:06:14.350+00:002012-12-17T22:06:14.350+00:00The trade in permits is something I always found p...The trade in permits is something I always found particularly interesting as a potential pollution solution, but perhaps you're right, it works well in theory, but wouldn't work so well in practice. Your idea is a Pigouvian tax, like the one <a href="http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-cartoon-for-pigou-club.html" rel="nofollow">Greg Mankiw</a> is constantly proposing, which is also a very good way to remake the tax system. Particularly if this tax would in fact reduce the need for other taxes in the economy (which is questionable but it's worth a shot) Vuk Vukovichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01878567452492217960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448927642739850334.post-87438531635684236262012-12-17T21:12:08.869+00:002012-12-17T21:12:08.869+00:00Not a big fan of carbon credits. They are unweildl...Not a big fan of carbon credits. They are unweildly to say the least, and open to politics and fraud. If it is considered a national policy to decrease the use of carbon fuels then it is easiest to just tax them directly. You can tax the carbon based fuel sources and use the proceeds of the tax to lower other taxes in order to lesson the impact on the economy.<br /><br />My own plan for deficit reduction would include some targeted cuts and then an across the board cut in everything. Followed by a freeze in spending. The cut would not have to be great, only about 5%. And of course the qualification age for entitlements has to be raised. kyle8https://www.blogger.com/profile/13299846346032212714noreply@blogger.com