The Center for American Progress has released a plan that could balance the budget by 2030, lower some people’s income taxes, and cut carbon emissions 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. This isn’t just a Holy Grail, it’s an entire Holy Place Setting.
The CAP plan proposes to eliminate the deficit mainly through taxes and fees that would primarily affect high earners and businesses — including an oil import fee and a large and rising price on CO2 emissions. Individual income taxes would fall somewhere between the Bush tax cut rates and the rates we’d have if those cuts were rolled back — which means that it’s pretty reasonable, and also that Republicans and Ayn Rand fans will kick out against it even if it results in a budget so balanced it could be in the Cirque du Soleil.
