The damage caused by a carbon tax on the US economy

Stephen Moore:

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The Baker-Shultz plan would impose on America a carbon tax, which would be a tax on American energy consumption. Since energy is a central component of everything that America produces, it would make the cost and thus the price of everything -- and I mean everything -- produced in America more expensive. It is a tax that only China, India, Mexico and Russia could love.

The tax is highly regressive, so the remedy that the two call for is a quarterly check from the Social Security Administration for every American. They call this a dividend. Somehow they have come to the conclusion that two really bad ideas paired together make for a good idea.

So let's get this straight: We are going to tax the producers of the economy and then give the money to people who don't produce, and somehow this isn't going to negatively affect the economy. If that makes sense, then why not adopt a 100 percent tax on production and then redistribute the money to everyone?
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Moore also points out that it would not replace the mess already im[posed by the EPA, but would be an add-on.

I have anther problem with it.  The purpose of the tax is to encourage people to use less efficient alternative energy.  But in the process, it would also give these alternative energy industries less incentive to increase their efficiencies to make them more competitive with fossil fuels.  The result will be Americans will pay more for whatever energy they use and will become less efficient in the process.

I strongly oppose this tax.