Carbon tax push from former GOP officials faces uphill slog

WASHINGTON (AP) — A push by a group of senior Republican statesmen for a tax on carbon to help lessen the effects of climate change is already meeting entrenched opposition from within their own party.

Former Secretary of State Jim Baker went to the White House on Wednesday to gain Trump administration support for the plan, which would place a new tax on oil, natural gas and coal and then use the proceeds to pay quarterly dividends to American taxpayers.

Republicans, the group argued, need to take a leadership role on fighting climate change, a problem for which they said the evidence is growing too compelling to ignore.

Within hours of their announcement, influential conservative anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist took to Twitter to suggest any proposal that includes a carbon tax is dead on arrival at Capitol Hill.

In June, the GOP-lead House voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution opposing carbon taxes, which Republican leaders have said would be "detrimental to the United States economy" and lead to skyrocketing costs for food, gasoline and heating oil.

According to an outline of the plan, the group is calling for a gradually-increasing carbon tax that "might begin at $40 a ton and increase steadily over time."

Trump's secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was the longtime chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, an oil company that long lobbied to defeat efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.