Mayor seeks to tax pollution

Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed taxing carbon dioxide emissions and charging motorists for driving in certain areas of the city as incentives to combat global warming and increase the use of public transportation.

Newsom plans to ask voters to approve a ballot measure in November that would increase utility bills on businesses as a way to decrease energy consumption. The additional revenue would be used to reduce payroll taxes. Newsom said his goal is to phase out some taxes on business and tax pollution instead.

“The idea is to become the first city in the U.S. to replace our payroll tax with a carbon tax that taxes pollution instead of jobs,” Newsom said in an interview.

A San Francisco carbon tax would be the second approved in the U.S. after Boulder, Colo., where officials implemented a plan last year to add a charge to electricity bills on kilowatt- hours used. Portland, Ore., also is proposing a tax on developers who don’t build homes that meet energy efficiency standards.