Lew: White House won’t propose carbon tax

Lew’s answer is the latest of several Obama administration pledges not to propose a carbon tax.

“We would never propose a carbon tax, and have no intention of proposing one,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in mid-November.

Lew’s vow on carbon taxes is part of his response to a wide-ranging set of questions from Hatch. The Hill’s On The Money blog has more on that here.

Hatch used his written questions to bash the idea of a carbon tax. He cited Obama’s vow in his second inaugural address to confront climate change, adding, “a carbon tax is one of the options that President Obama could pursue.”

“Given the enormous tax increase that would result from a carbon tax, how would you advise the president to use carbon tax revenues? What would your highest priorities be?” Hatch asked.

Lew declined to get into the idea, offering his one sentence vow and leaving it at that.