The Carbon Tax, What Is It Good For.....

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.....Absolutely Maybe Sorta Not-Quite Nothing?

CanRevenueNeutralityChangeAnything?
SayItAgain!Ville


So.

I'm at home with littler e. today because she's sick (but starting to get better).

And I'm pounding away on the box working on science geek stuff while she sleeps (while simultaneously wondering/worrying if Steve-O's latest strategy to pour money into big-box sci-fi hype machines is going to mean trouble for the true innovation incubators otherwise known as peer-reviewed non-photo-operating grants to individuals) and on comes Mark Forsythe's lunchtime call-in show on Lotusland's regional CBC radio station.

Now, I like Forsythe, mostly because he actually listens to an interviewee's answer before he asks the next question.

But today, I must confess that I could make neither heads nor tails from his interview/call-in segment with representatives from the B.C. Business Council and the Suzuki Foundation.

Why?

Because both groups apparently like the British Columbia Government's new Carbon Tax.

Now, the fact that these two groups agree on something is bizarre, in and of itself.

But I guess, at least from a PR point of view, this could be seen as a real victory in compromise for Premier Gordon Campbell.

The thing is, the more I listened, the more I couldn't help but notice that there appears to be no there there.

In other words, because of the revenue neutrality gimmick, it appears that the monies generated from increased fuel prices will not be used to directly fund new technologies and/or increased efficiencies to decrease greenhouse gas production.

So what the heck is the tax really and truly good for.

Well - in reality it appears nothing.

Except, as Paul Willcocks notes, the fact that it is a 'start' is something important in and of itself.

And I can see his point.

It's just that I wish that the thing was really designed to do something.

After all, isn't that what taxes are for?

I mean, can you imagine paying your property taxes and being told that they would not be used for community centers, policing or garbage collection?

Sheesh.


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