The sure way to reduce co2 emissions

[gravity]

Raise the price of gas.

[razzleberry]

1. tax on jet fuel for international flight, zero, not a penny

tax on jet fuel for domestic flight, four cents a gallon.

the rich think the poor are undertaxed

[kdmorris]

2. That just hurts the poor

unless they put other or better methods of public transportation in place. I would take the Tri-Rail (north/south train in South Florida) and buses to work if it wasn't going to take me 3.5 hours to get to work (it currently takes me 40 minutes) They just don't have the funding to have more trains and buses running. And I'm not poor anymore. But back when I was struggling to find a job and living on welfare, that extra amount that I had to pay in gas would have killed me. And what you are proposing would result in all the poor people who can't afford to pay the extra having to ride 3.5 hours to work while the middle class and rich would keep on driving. That just seems to be another slap in the face to people who already have such different lives than the middle class.

I'm not against raising the price of gas AFTER they do something about the abysmal public transportation system they have in most large American cities (and usually NONE in smaller towns).

[Shallah Kali]

4. What if the revenue was devoted to increasing public transportation

or if instead there was an environmental sin tax for gas guzzlers with the money used for public transportation?

[kdmorris]

5. That would work.

Start with the sin tax, increase public transportation, then increase the price of gas to the point that the public transportation would actually be more affordable (and didn't take you 3 hours) than driving yourself to work.

[GliderGuider]

3. The Really Sure way to reduce CO2 emissions

Just wait a while, it will go down.

[hogwyld]

6. Doesn't go far enough

We might actually be at the point where we have to legislate what cars people are allowed to buy. With all of the stupid SUV's out there, we can't rely on peoples good sense can we? Maybe we also need to explore ways of making people live closer to their work so they don't need to drive.

[Shallah Kali]

7. sin tax to create & expand public transit, require businesses to telecommute as much as possible

telecommunting will also cut down on flying.

as for making people move that just won't work if people are priced out of housing near their work place(s) as many people are. for example I read the other day of how many in Santa Barbara are homeless living in their cars or if they are lucky a small camper the city lets them park at night in city building parking lots because they can't afford even the cheapest apartments even when working full time. So unless the government or a nonprofit got into creating some housing that doesn't eat up a worker's entire wage people many simply can't do it.