Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Carbon Tax is Redundant

The main argument for carbon tax is that it will have change people’s behavior. The thing is though that the raising cost of fuel is already doing that. A carbon tax is redundant. Fuel prices are only going to go up and up and that provides people with all the incentive they need to change their behavior. Adding a carbon tax makes such shock therapy all the more painful.

This is no small point. There is no such thing as “revenue neutral” carbon tax. Intentional or not, a carbon tax would shift more of the tax burden onto lower income earners. Students, for example, do not pay much if anything in the way of income taxes. As it is they are facing a double whamming of higher fuel costs, those that have cars anyway, and higher grocery costs. Carbon tax would make things even worse.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You want me to cry for students who drive a car? Are you daft?

The rest of your "carbon tax is redundant" is also BS so I'm not even going to bother discussing it with you.

Why aren't you still shilling for Harper anymore? You know Dion is not a leader.

signed,

Voting liberal, for the first time in a while, because Dion is the right man for the job.

wilson said...

''The rest of your "carbon tax is redundant" is also BS so I'm not even going to bother discussing it with you.''

LOL, gee anon, you really made your case for a carbon tax.

Koby said...

Global warming is not the most pressing issue facing Canadians. Hell, Canada is one of the few countries that will actually benefit from global warming. It is high time that the Liberals focus on issues that relevant to Canada's well being. Immigration, for example, is far more pressing concern for Canada than is global warming. Canada is one of the oldest countries on earth, (39.7) yet the Liberals have said nothing about how Canada should go about attracting younger immigrants and more of them. The number of Canadians over the age of 65 is set to double by 2050. The current crop of immigrants is hardly younger than your average Canadian.

Dr. Tux said...

You've made an important point and in a way, you're right. The fact is that Dion's "price on carbon" will raise the price of gasoline a paltry few cents while the market has been raising it by much more than that in the past few years.

However, you overlook a couple things. First, a "price on carbon," as in Dion's Carbon Budget, is a price applied not at the pump, but on tonnes emitted beyond kyoto levels minus 6% by large industrial emitters. The price is applied when the large emitters have gone beyond their "Carbon Budget."

The other thing you overlook is that Carbon Pricing raises revenues for investments into renewable energy and conservation projects. The rise in price in the market does not provide the cash for alternatives. It just makes gas more expensive.

Koby,
Dion IS focussed on the demographic changes in Canada. It's a major problem. One of the ways we need to tackle this challenge is by making sure our country remains a tolerant and welcoming place for newcomers. Another way is through efficiency gains in the economy. A third way is through economic adjustment.