Co-authored by Isabel Root (Intern)
On Monday, July 19, 2021, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Rep. Scott
Peters (D-CA-52) introduced The FAIR Transition and Competition Act
of 2021 (S. 2378). The bill would, among other things,
amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, by
establishing a Border Carbon Adjustment (BCA). As proposed, the BCA
may be likened to a value-added tax (VAT) and is intended to
address the phenomenon known as carbon leakage, wherein
market actors attempt to avoid the cost of greenhouse gas
regulations by sourcing products from less regulated jurisdictions.
Proponents of border tax adjustments argue that they level the
playing field for manufacturers in the United States whose