Elon Musk Has a Horrible Idea, and It Exposes His Biggest Flaw

There's no doubt Elon Musk has done a lot of good over the last several years. His companies have made incredible leaps in rocket technology and remote internet. He even makes a decent car if electric vehicles are your thing. Certainly, we can't ignore his buying of Twitter and rebranding it as a free speech platform, which, despite some bumps in the road, has largely come to pass.

Still, no one is perfect, and Musk proved that on Saturday with one of the drunkest takes I've seen on social media. Specifically, he wants a "carbon tax" in the mold of taxes on cigarettes and alcohol because all three are "bad."

We should not, for example, impose draconian laws on farmers or make citizens uncomfortable by limiting air-conditioner usage!

Keep tax revenue constant, but shift it to tax what is probably bad (CO2), just like alcohol & cigarettes are taxed more than fruits & vegetables.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2024

There's a lot that's wrong here, with the first thing being that carbon itself is comparable to various vices. People can choose to not drink. They can't choose to not eat food, whose production releases carbon emissions. There's also that whole "breathing" thing to consider. Something like travel is also more of a necessity than not in the modern world.

Regardless, Musk couches his idea for a carbon tax in a populist message of not imposing draconian laws on farmers and air-conditioner usage. Okay, but who does he think would be affected by a carbon tax? For example, ranchers that create large amounts of carbon emissions raising cattle would be on the hook. Further, even if one makes the argument that a carbon tax would mostly impact large companies, guess what they'll do to their prices? And guess who will then pay that price increase?

A carbon tax is a ridiculously stupid idea that would likely not affect global warming, and that's assuming one believes it's even controllable by forcing human behavior.

Musk's promotion of it is almost certainly self-serving, though, because, at the end of the day, Musk remains a crony capitalist. He owns an electric vehicle company and wants to rig the system in his favor (something that's already happened with EV subsidies). He has no qualms about using the government to reach that end. If carbon is taxed, it gives him a competitive advantage. It's not any more complicated than that.

Musk has done many good things, and we've written a lot of words promoting them here at RedState. Still, he's got his flaws, and calling this one out is necessary. The idea of a "carbon tax" can not be allowed to take hold. Like with politicians, Musk should be viewed as a tool. When he's owning the libs and promoting free speech, praise him. When he's stumping for a nonsensical tax to line his pockets, tell him to pound sand.