Global warming is on the tip of everyones tounges these days, and with so much attention in the media, political officals, and the changes we're seeing in our local weather, Its becoming impossible to ignore.I myself have felt strongly about reducing my own emmisions, and have been encouraging dialog and idea trading with friends and family for many years now.
Reccently I've been hearing the idea of a Carbon Tax being thrown around, as well, its is expected that Stephan Dion will be releasing a carbon tax proposal for canada in the coming weeks, so I decided to do a little reasearch and find out what this whole carbon tax thing is about.
I tried to read several different overviews to avoid getting heavily biased information, so here is a general run down, as I understand...
Okay so as most of us know (hopefully) greenhouse gas pollution is the main cause of global warming and consists mainly of carbon dioxide, most of which comes from burning carbon-containing fossil fuels (including caol, natural gas, burning oil, gasoline and diesel fuel)
So, simply put, Carbon tax is a tax applied to the sale of carbon-containing fossil fuels.
This means the more you pollute, the more you pay.
How will this effectively change anything?
Putting a price on pollution gives a direct incentive for everyone to reduce emissions. From individuals to big business, this will result with everyone seeking out more eco friendly options which come with a smaller price tag.As well as directing people in the direction of conserving energy, and using more eco-friendly alternatives, the money collected from the carbon tax could go towards reductions in other taxes, such as income tax.
Emissions will be reduced as a result of the tax itself, but could be reduced even more if the money collected from the tax was spent on effective enviromental programs and "green solutions", and hopefully this will be the case in the canadian carbon tax proposal.
Its hard to know at this point what will be outlined in the propsal, and how it will effect individuals...especially those in a lower tax bracet, but lets wait till its released rather than assuming the worst
A lot of people think its a bad idea for Dion to put forward a strong position about a carbon tax before election time and other political parties are automatically looking down on him as a candidate because of it, like the conservatives have so boldly done in their at the pump ads, and surprisingly. Even Jack Layton with the NDP seems to be attacking Dion and making claims or a carbon tax alienating lower income families and individuals for a proposal he hasn't even released yet.
I think its certainly a bold move on his part, but you have to respect him for that kind of a risk.
I'd much rather a candidate be up front about their plans regarding a carbon tax, as well as any other major issue, rather than waiting out the election on the fence, and springing it on unsuspecting voters swayed by deception.
And further more, I think a carbon tax, or a cap and trade system should be implemented. Why shouldn't their be a harder push on people to conserve energy, burn less fossil fuels, and investment in green solutions!?!
I for one have no quams with paying a tax on the carbon emmisions I generate, and I am a single mother on a very tight budget.
I think it is everyones responsability to take action against what is happening, and make the nessissary changes.
Its also up to us to demand those changes of big business by boycoting companies that don't offer eco-friendly options, and make smarter lifestyle choises like buying lower energy appliences; occupying smaller residences; consuming less on a general level; buying, working, and living locally.
Money Talks, so it seems like the only realistic solution.
3 comments:
I'd like to know why consumers are being taxed yet the biggest producers such as Alcan, are exempt? Perhaps big business should also be Carbon taxed, I'd be happy to include them in the one time 100.00 reimbursement program.
source: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=fae41a18-9c66-4c01-80e4-c17f766794d0
The tax thing is an interesting thing. Here is the problem with the tax as an incentive to "go green" or reduce your fossil fuel consumption. If the tax does not scale to the income level, then it only ends up hurting the lower class. This has been the problem here in the US. Most of the taxes we have don't appropriately scale up to higher income levels. So the poor are the ones that get hurt and have to cut back, while the rich continue to be able to do what they do.
Big business in the US gets way too many tax breaks as well, and they would probably end up being exempt from such a tax, which would totally kill the purpose. Change only really occurs when big business changes their trend.
Anyhow, I hope that the world does whatever they NEED to do to reduce their carbon emissions. CFL lights (and while they are at that, figure out a safe way of disposing of the mercury in CFL lights), hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell cars, etc.
Nice summary. A Carbon tax is an obvious first step, but ultimately we need incentives for much greater efficiency. There's actually no need for us to develop new power supplies (dirty or otherwise) if we learn to use what we have more efficiently, then we can start replacing coal with cleaner power.
Unfortunately for most people, i think the only way to incentivize people is to let the price of energy rise to the point where people make lifestyle changes, properly insulate their house, etc...
Just my two cents!
Nick Aster
(www.triplepundit.com)
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