Bill Nye: IRS needs to impose a ‘carbon fee’ – ‘I strongly believe it would change the world’
“We have the system to collect it,” Nye said. “We have the Internal Revenue Service. It’s a bureaucracy that exists. People love to hate it. People also love to not die. But there’s two things you can count on: death and taxes. So we could do this if we we’re motivated. I’m a big supporter of it. I strongly believe it would change the world.”
Nye explained that the high cost of such a fee on carbon would force changes in many industries, from transportation to agriculture to meat production, creating a domino effect of environmental consciousness.
“The price of meat would go way up, or up a little bit. People would be less motivated to buy expensive meat. Ranchers who produce the meat would now do it in a less carbon-producing or methane-producing way. Everybody would be motivated to do more with less, to do a better job,” Nye said.