The New York Times - 19.09.2019

(Tuis.) #1
F6 NY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

Earlier this month, the 10 top-polling
Democratic primary candidates took part
in a CNN town hall event on climate
change, the first prime-time televised
forum devoted to the issue in a presiden-
tial campaign.
In perhaps the most significant develop-
ment of that night, nine of the 10 candi-
dates openly embraced the idea of putting
a tax or fee on carbon dioxide pollution.
While most economists agree it is the best
way to cut emissions, it has drawn intense
political opposition, such as from the so-
called yellow-vest protesters in France
last winter, when protests shut down the
Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.
And this year, even as the issue of cli-
mate change gained political prominence,
progressive lawmakers did not include a
carbon tax or price in the Green New
Deal.
Still, recent scientific reports, which
have concluded that the impacts of climate
change — stronger storms, droughts, heat
waves, rising sea levels and flooding —
are already being felt, have also called
more explicitly on governments to re-
spond by pricing carbon.
Polls have shown that rising numbers of
Democratic primary, millennial and inde-
pendent voters see climate change as an
increasingly important issue. But the

political path for the promise of turning
that pledge into legislation remains steep
and tricky. CORAL DAVENPORT

Recommendations

NET ZERO EMISSIONSAlthough the panel
could not reach consensus on how exactly
we would get here, they agreed the federal
government needs to place a limit on
greenhouse gases with the goal of net zero
emissions by no later than 2050, combined
with carbon pricing.
REDIRECT FUNDS IN POSITIVE WAYSA portion
of the revenue from carbon pricing should
go toward underserved and low-income
communities, supporting them in a just
and equitable transition away from fossil
fuels.

Disputes

Members of the panel were divided on
whether trading a carbon tax in exchange
for stripping away regulations would be
the most effective way to lower emissions.
While most members of the panel agreed
with the necessity of a price on carbon in
general, there was little agreement on how
to make a price on carbon palatable to
Republicans and businesses, or even
whether appealing to them is an important
element to consider.

Carbon Pricing


TASK FORCEModerator: Coral Davenport, energy and environmental policy correspondent, The New York Times. Partici-
pants: Vicki Arroyo, executive director, Georgetown Climate Center; Jason Bordoff, founding director of Center on Global
Energy Policy, professor of professional practice in international and public affairs, Columbia University; Carlos Curbelo,
principal, Vocero; United States Representative Ted Deutch, Florida; Rhiana Gunn-Wright, policy director, New Consensus;
Ted Halstead, chief executive and chairman, Climate Leadership Council; Nate Hurst, chief sustainability social impact
officer, HP; Fred Krupp, president, Environmental Defense Fund; Erich Pica, president, Friends of the Earth U.S.; Mary
Powell, chief executive and president, Green Mountain Power; Barry Rabe, professor of public policy, University of Michigan;
Valerie Smith, managing director and global head, corporate sustainability, Citi; William Snape III, senior counsel Center for
Biological Diversity, professor American University Law School; Alison Taylor, chief sustainability officer, Archer Daniels
Midland Company; Daniel Zarrilli, chief climate policy adviser and OneNYC director, New York City Office of the Mayor.

Taxing the rich is having a moment in
American politics, even more than usual.
For decades, Democrats and Republi-
cans in Washington have battled over how
much money the highest-earning Ameri-
cans should send to the federal govern-
ment each year — a fight that has mostly
played out between a few percentage
points of the top marginal rate of income
taxes. President Bill Clinton raised that
rate, George W. Bush lowered it, and
Barack Obama raised it again. President
Trump’s 2017 tax cuts lowered it. It was the
political equivalent of watching two foot-
ball teams push the ball back and forth
between the 40 yard lines.
As the 2020 election approaches, a new
crop of Democratic candidates has opened
a much larger field of play on the issue,
cheered by voters who tell pollsters the
economy is stacked against the working
class and in favor of the rich. Those candi-
dates are looking beyond the income tax —
which many of them would increase for the
rich, to be clear — and offering plans to tax
wealth, investments and a variety of other

hallmarks of the economic top 1 percent.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachu-
setts suggests a tax on the 75,000 wealthi-
est American households, as well as a
suite of increased investment and payroll
taxes on high earners. Senator Bernie
Sanders of Vermont wants to increase
significantly the tax rate that heirs must
pay when inheriting large estates, to raise
the top income tax rate above 50 percent
and to increase taxes for businesses and
for wealthy investors who earn money
from dividends and capital gains.
The flurry of proposals are entwined
with questions of economic fairness, mo-
bility and efficiency. JIM TANKERSLEY

Recommendations

CLOSE INHERITANCE LOOPHOLESThe govern-
ment should eliminate the so-called “step-
up in basis” for assets that are passed on
at death, which allows wealthy heirs to
avoid taxes.
INCREASE TAX COMPLIANCEMore funding
should be allocated for tax enforcement to

increase compliance and raise more tax
revenue.
BETTER BENEFITS FOR WORKING FAMILIES
The earned-income tax credit could be
improved and expanded in ways that
increase fairness and mobility.

Disputes

Some members of the panel, including
James Pethokoukis, a fellow at the Ameri-
can Enterprise Institute, viewed the pro-
posal of a wealth tax as simply punitive,
arguing that it targeted the wealthy with-
out accomplishing larger aims like fair-
ness or social mobility. Other members,
including Gene Sperling, a former eco-
nomic adviser to Presidents Obama and
Clinton, argued that this is an important
moment in which the concept of fairness
and economic dignity has become central
to the larger debate around tax reform.
Abigail Disney argued it was wrong for
people like her, who inherit wealth, to pay
lower taxes than people who work for
their income.

Taxing the Wealthy


TASK FORCEModerator:Jim Tankersley, economic and tax policy correspondent, The New York Times. Participants:Lily Batchelder, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, N.Y.U. Law School; Abigail Disney, filmmaker and activist, Fork Films and Level Forward; John Bryant,
founder, chairman and chief executive, Operation HOPE; Robert Glenn Hubbard, dean emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Economics and Finance and Professor of Economics; Columbia University; Stephanie Kelton, professor of economics and public policy, Stony Brook
University; Jacob Leibenluft, executive vice president for policy, Center for American Progress; Grover Norquist, president, Americans for Tax Reform; James Pethokoukis, DeWitt Wallace Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Kyle Pomerleau, chief economist, Tax Foundation; Steven
Rattner, chairman and chief executive, Willett Advisors; Tiffany Smith, chief tax counsel, Senate Finance Committee; Gene B. Sperling, former national economic adviser, presidents Obama and Clinton; G. Warren Whitaker, partner, Day Pitney; Vanessa Williamson, senior fellow, Brook-
ings Institution; Kathryn Wylde, president and chief executive, Partnership for New York City; Mark Zandi, chief economist, Moody’s Analytics.

WORKING GROUPS

Finding Solutions


At the end of World War I, the airplane,
invented to speed transport, suddenly
looked fearsome. It had been turned into a
weapon of war. It was still a matter of
debate whether the aeroplane, as the
British called it, could cause mass chaos
or threaten entire cities. But that is what
happened a quarter-century later.
The same debate now rages over cyber-
power. Connectivity has changed our lives
and made possible applications we never
dreamed of decades ago — with many
more to come. But we are way past the
moment when the biggest fear is spies
using cyber for espionage, or thieves
draining our bank accounts because we
clicked on the wrong link in a phishing
scam. Cyberattacks can range from elec-
tion interference, to the manipulation of
financial or medical data, to the physical
destruction of equipment, whether nuclear
centrifuges or entire power grids.
A series of ransomware attacks this
summer has proved that for all the talk
about major advances in protecting our-
selves, small towns, school boards and
water districts are wildly vulnerable to

extortion. With a few exceptions, the best
protected have spent tens of millions of
dollars on detection and deterrence.
And now there is another concern: New
high-speed 5G networks will create all
kinds of new applications, but they will also
allow attacks to move much more quickly
and create new vulnerabilities. “We can’t
forget,’’ said Brad Smith, president of
Microsoft, “that every better tool is also a
better weapon.” DAVID E. SANGER

Recommendations
BAN THE TERM “CYBERSECURITY”There are
huge differences between the theft of intel-
lectual property, the breach of a bank ac-
count, a disinformation campaign and a
state-sponsored attack to shut down a
power plant or a missile launch. And pro-
tecting against each attack involves a radi-
cally different approach. Grouping them all
as “cybersecurity” problems makes solving
them harder. Instead, focus on the kind of
problem we are trying to solve and think of
comprehensive ways to approach them —
some of which will involve cyber protec-
tions, but some of which won’t.

NONDIGITAL BACKUPS FOR ELECTIONSSome
functions are too important to trust to the
vulnerabilities of electronic manipulation.
There is no excuse for not having a foren-
sic trail for elections that is nondigital, and
thus not subject to digital attacks. And
these systems need resilience. At a mo-
ment when the government is worried
about “ransomware” attacks on states,
cities and town voter registration data-
bases, make sure the voter rolls are
backed up and printed out.

Disputes

Vast amounts of information about vulner-
abilities is classified by the government —
making it hard to discuss, much less pro-
tect against. Our experts disagreed on
whether there could be a presumption that
vulnerabilities are quickly, if not instantly,
shared. The intelligence agencies fiercely
want to protect their sources and meth-
ods, and the big users of this data say
collecting it is useless if the government is
going to spend weeks or months before
sending up an alert.

Cybersecurity


TASK FORCE Moderator:David Sanger, national security correspondent and senior writer, The New York Times. Participants:Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer and co-founder, CrowdStrike; Neil Chatterjee, chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Nicole Eagan,
chief executive, Darktrace; Victoria Espinel, president and chief executive, BSA | The Software Alliance; United States Representative Michael Gallagher of Wisconsin; Avril Haines, former deputy director of the C.I.A.; Lorraine Hariton, president and chief executive, Catalyst. Ryan Ma-
cias, owner, RSM Election Solutions; Elizabeth Petrie, managing director, emerging technology risk & analytics, Citi; Neill Sciarrone, co-founder and president, Trinity Cyber; Nick Selby, director of cyber intelligence and investigations, New York City Police Department; Suzanne Spaul-
ding, senior adviser, homeland security, international security program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Phil Venables, senior adviser of risk and cybersecurity, and board director, Goldman Sachs Bank.


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