What are the carbon emissions of manufacturing a yellow pencil? The amount of carbon released by the trees that were cut down? What about the chemicals needed to add the shine? Or the rubber manufactured for the eraser? What about the employees that have less time to feed themselves so they buy crappy junk food with packaging creating more waste? What about the costs to recycle it? What about the ecosystem that was replaced to make way for the new factory? What about the cost of the tools that were created to make these pencils? Do you calculate that in by how much wear is added every time they're used? And what about the tools needed to make THOSE tools? What about the graphite powder used for the lead or the energy it cost to heat petroleum coke above the temperature of graphitization or the ships needed to ship those to the right factory? What about that petcoke? Do you discount some of its cost because its mostly a side-product of the process of refining oil? What about when a company innovates to sell higher quality pencils made of higher quality petcoke that requires more emissions to make and isn't just a byproduct? What is the social cost of advertising and manipulating tastes in demand?
> The simplest approach, administratively, is to levy the carbon tax “upstream,” where the fewest entities would be subject to it (for instance, suppliers of coal, natural gas processing facilities, and oil refineries).
Include other highly polluting industries with that, and while you may not get 100% coverage, it would definitely cover the majority of carbon intensive products and services and lead to a drastic reduction in emissions.
CCL estimates that the annual administrative cost of a carbon tax in the US would be about $4 to $5 billion per year, which is about 6.8 percent of revenues in year one ($15/ton of CO2e year one, rising by $10/ton each year), but as revenues grow along with the fee, it drops to only about 1.7 percent by year 10.
True, it definitely is trickier, but it can be managed to some degree.
> The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act has a provision built in to protect trade competitiveness: a ‘Carbon Border Fee Adjustment’ imposed on covered fuels and ‘emissions-intensive trade-exposed’ (EITE) goods that cross our border in either direction. These goods include products like steel, aluminum, cement, glass, certain chemicals, and some agricultural products.
Goods that fall under this EITE classification and are imported from a country that does not have a carbon price equivalent to ours will have to pay a surcharge to make up the difference. Conversely, domestic EITE products exported to any country will get a refund for the carbon fee paid.
Where exactly do you stop?
[Yes this is my subverted version of "I, pencil"]