New Study: Tax Policies Are A 'Poor Tool' For Addressing Climate Change

Ya don’t say.

As America’s debt rises to unsustainable levels, the U.S. government is losing billions every year on energy tax subsidies that do little to combat climate change.

That’s according to a tough report released this week by the National Research Council. The non-partisan academic report concluded that current tax policies are a “poor tool” for addressing climate change — and a costly one.

It found energy subsidies in 2011 and 2012 cost $48 billion, with limited results.

Let’s toss aside the discussion of whether there is any approach that will achieve good results because maybe, just maybe, it isn’t a man-made problem in the first place. It is obvious that this course of action is not working and is an even worse idea in the context of our current economic situation. Yet, as I pointed out yesterday, that matters little to this president.