The Tom SteyeR Street Institute

The Washington D.C. based think-tank, R Street, bills itself as a free market organization who takes a “pragmatic approach to public policy challenges” and favors “consumer choice; low, flat taxes; …and systems that rely on price signals rather than central planning.”[i] So why this group would back a terrible policy like the carbon tax, then, is baffling.

Or maybe not.

You see, in just the last 18 months, R Street has accepted over $580,000 from the Energy Foundation to “advance policy solutions for a stable climate.”[ii] The Energy Foundation is a “partnership of philanthropic investors promoting clean energy technology [with the goal of building] a new energy future by advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy.”[iii] And guess who a major “philanthropic investor” would be? That’s right, the billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer.[iv]

It seems that, at least with respect to R Street’s support for a carbon tax, the old adage is true, “You get what you pay for.”

As we’ve highlighted in the past, there is nothing free-market about the all economic pain, no environmental gain carbon tax.  It will stifle growth, harm the economy, and kill jobs.[v]

That’s why it is unfortunate that the folks at R Street have joined forces with the Energy Foundation, an organization that has financed the effort to advance costly government mandates and subsidies (like the wind PTC) for energy sources that would never be able to compete on their own in the marketplace, while at the same time encouraging the adoption of policies like the carbon tax that undermine our proven energy resources.

So, R Street, by teaming up with the Energy Foundation, you may think you are “coalition building”, “finding bipartisan answers”, or “working across the aisle,” but with respect to the carbon tax, it seems you’re just another sword-for-hire in the climate activists’ battle against American families and small businesses.

I’d hold it against you, but it is a free market. Right?

[i]http://www.rstreet.org/about/why-r-street/

[ii]http://www.ef.org/grants-database/#!/keywords=r%20street

[iii]http://www.ef.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/2012_EF_Annual_Report.pdf

[iv]http://capitalresearch.org/2014/08/tom-steyer-the-new-paladin-of-the-left/

[v]http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/analysis/conservatives-shouldnt-trust-stelzer-carbon-tax/