Instead of taxing something good (work), why not tax something bad (carbon)?
The province of British Columbia is celebrating Canada Day by implementing a carbon tax. The tax starts at $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide and will gradually ramp up to $30 per tonne in 2012. It is intended to be revenue neutral through reductions in business and income taxes. Further, at the national level in Canada carbon taxes do not seem to be quite the political anathema they are in America. Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion has dubbed his carbon tax proposal—similar in many respects to the BC tax—the Green Shift.Art Laffer is on board.
1) I don't accept that CO2 is bad.
ReplyDelete2) Look at research for example of the effects of CO2 on crop yields (the estimates are on the order of 30% boost due to increases in CO2).
3) If (2) is correct then CO2 has massive positive externalities (of the order of trillions a year) so increasing taxes on it is a bad idea.
What's up doc?!
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I like the shift and awareness that this idea brings forward. Measurement will initiate change. Perhaps this will provide funding from major polluters to care for the asthma patients finding it difficult to breath as a result of the pollution they create. Or even better, perhaps there will be more solar power fields, etc. and money will be invested into cleaner air options. Sounds like an option the US should explore...
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