Also, you are missing the target on the parent comments argument. The carbon tax wouldn't affect the poor as much because the UBI is there to compensate for it, that's kind of the whole point. There's nothing about being poor that forces you to emit more carbon when compared to other people, as far as I know.
ie., c. 4 Trillion USD / yr or c. 20% of GDP (20 T)
The total amount taxed in the US is already at that level (4T).
For the carbon tax to raise 20% of GDP, it would need to raise as much as all present taxes do (income, sales, etc.). Levying that much on consumption (ie., obtaining the present total amount of tax merely from products people buy) would raise prices catastrophically.
edit: Imagine being downvoted for asking for a legitimate source on HN. Because rejecting UBI by making a simple multiplication is a sufficient explanation instead of researching all the secondary effects that a UBI would bring. Yeah, we've solved it there, I guess! Economists should go find some real jobs /s
Total retail sales (https://www.statista.com/statistics/443495/total-us-retail-s...) is c. 6T.
Assuming that most of the 4T comes from taxing the activity represented by retail sales (a very safe bet), you need to get most of 4T from 6T. Ie., you're basically doubling the prices of retail goods -- including food.
1 US gallon = 3.8 litres
$7.84 per gallon = $2.06/€1.75 per litre
Russia €0.55/$0.65 per litre
China €0.80/$0.94
Spain €1.66/$1.95
Germany €1.29/$1.51
UK €1.21/$1.42
Netherlands €1.67/$1.96
I’m not sold on UBI but it does sound possible
Being poor means having less or no choices. Low income, no or negative capital. You practically have to go with the cheapest at the moment, even if it is more expensive in the long run.
So, a low upfront cost gasoline car Vs a more expensive electric car with potential lower TCO.
And that doesn't account for the fact that they have no discretionary spending. If everything becomes more expensive, the rich person can simply buy less.
I still think it's a sensible idea, simply because the currently socialised costs (co2 emissions & poverty related ones) become explicit.
And the reason why gasoline cars are as affordable as they are now is that the carbon tax is not here and cars are heavily subsidized in general. Carbon tax isn't even really a tax, it's more akin to removing a subsidy (you cannot pollute for free anymore and make someone else pay the costs)