Faced with the increasingly certain prospect of widespread
infrastructure failure related to climate change San Francisco is proposing an interesting new
measure—a $12 a year property tax upon property owners.
While taxation is not a new tool for battling climate change, this
proposed tax is unique in that is aimed wholly at dealing with
climate adaptation, as opposed to mitigation/ prevention.
Instead of encouraging consumers or producers to find ways of
decreasing their carbon footprint—and thereby bringing about
an overall reduction in emissions—this tax does not seek to
change behaviour.
Carbon taxes of various stripes, for example, exist in many
jurisdictions around the world and generally tax the consumption of
emissions-producing products such as fossil fuels. The proposed San
Francisco tax, on the other hand, is designed to generate funds
that the city anticipates will be necessary to deal with some of
the catastrophic effects of climate change. Officials
