New York S 2579: Establishes a tax on carbon-based fuels

Bill Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2579
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, BAILEY, BRESLIN, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN-SIGAL,
KAVANAGH, KRUEGER, LIU, MYRIE, SANDERS, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO -- read
twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the
Committee on Budget and Revenue
AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to establishing a tax on
carbon-based fuels to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions causing
anthropogenic climate change
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The tax law is amended by adding a new article 12-B to read
2 as follows:
3 ARTICLE 12-B
4 TAX ON CARBON-BASED FUELS
5 Section 289-g. Definitions.
6 289-h. Administration of emissions charges.
7 289-i. Carbon dioxide emissions tax.
8 289-j. Carbon dioxide emissions fund.
9 289-k. Regulations.
10 § 289-g. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following
11 terms shall have the following meanings:
12 1. "Carbon-based fuel" means coal, natural gas, renewable biomass,
13 petroleum products, and any other product that contains carbon and emits
14 carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, or other greenhouse gases when
15 combusted, that are used for fuel, heating, cooling, or industrial proc-
16 esses, which processes shall include electricity generation.
17 2. "Carbon-generated electricity" means electric energy produced using
18 a carbon-based fuel that is generated or transmitted by an electric
19 power facility.
20 3. "Carbon dioxide equivalent" means a unit of measure denoting the
21 amount of emissions from a greenhouse gas, expressed as the amount of
22 carbon dioxide by weight that produces the same global warming impact.
EXPLANATION--Matter in (underscored) is new; matter in bracketsitalics
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06497-01-3

S. 2579 2
1 4. "Carbon dioxide emissions tax" means a tax imposed on each ton of
2 carbon dioxide equivalency.
3 5. "Fuel distributor" means any person, firm, association or corpo-
4 ration, that imports or causes to be imported into the state, for use,
5 distribution, storage or sale within the state, any carbon-based fuel as
6 defined in subdivision one of this section; and also any person, firm,
7 association or corporation that produces, refines, manufactures or
8 compounds carbon-based fuel within the state.
9 6. "Fund" means the carbon dioxide emissions fund established by this
10 article.
11 7. "Motor vehicle fuel" means fuel for the operation of a motor vehi-
12 cle.
13 8. "Utility" means any such gas corporation, electric corporation, gas
14 and electric corporation, steam corporation, municipality, or any entity
15 that, in any manner, sells or facilitates the sale, furnishing or
16 provision of gas or electronic commodity to residential customers;
17 provided, however, that the term shall not include any municipality that
18 is exempt from regulation by the public service commission pursuant to
19 paragraph g of subdivision five of section one thousand five of the
20 public authorities law.
21 § 289-h. Administration of emissions charges. The department of envi-
22 ronmental conservation shall administer the schedules of carbon dioxide
23 emissions charges and the carbon dioxide emissions fund, both estab-
24 lished pursuant to this article. Such tax shall be imposed on each fuel
25 distributor and utility at a rate and schedule to be determined by the
26 department of environmental conservation in accordance with section two
27 hundred eighty-nine-i of this article for a carbon-based fuel that is
28 either:
29 1. sold by a fuel distributor to consumers in this state in the previ-
30 ous calendar year; or
31 2. used to produce carbon-generated electricity that is supplied by a
32 utility to consumers in this state in the previous calendar year.
33 § 289-i. Carbon dioxide emissions tax. 1. The department and the
34 department of environmental conservation shall establish a carbon diox-
35 ide emissions tax on the distribution or sale of carbon-based fuels
36 which shall be no less than thirty-five dollars per ton of carbon diox-
37 ide equivalency and shall increase by fifteen dollars per ton of carbon
38 dioxide equivalency annually to a maximum of one hundred eighty-five
39 dollars per ton of carbon dioxide equivalency.
40 2. In the fourth year of implementation, and biannually thereafter,
41 the department of environmental conservation shall publish a report for
42 the legislature and shall post the report on an internet website acces-
43 sible to the public. Such report shall consider whether any increases or
44 decreases in the carbon dioxide emissions tax as authorized by this
45 section are recommended to account for inflation, and to ensure progress
46 towards reaching emissions levels to mitigate climate change in further-
47 ance of established state policy.
48 3. The department shall deter