Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld came out in support of carbon taxes and took a pledge to not accept campaign contributions from oil and gas companies.
A carbon tax is “letting the market decide about carbon,” he said. “That’s a much more powerful engine than just saying I’m going to spend $10 trillion dollars to promote clean energy. You don’t know if you’re going to get there.” He supports using the money collected from a carbon tax to end the federal excise tax on gasoline or to lower payroll taxes for low income families.
Weld took part in the MSNBC Climate Forum held last Friday, the only Republican to do so. “I’m the real Republican, not a Republican in name only,” he told forum moderators. He believes his position on climate change will benefit him because, “Republican voters will agree with me that climate and environment are an important issue.”