With all the talk about a Canada-wide carbon tax and how some provinces, including ours, seem to be so dead-set against it….check that….I should say government politicians are dead-set against it, meaning the rank and file population has no choice but to go along, I thought I would refresh my memory as to what, exactly, we are talking about when it comes to “taxing carbon”. What does it mean? Carbon taxes are designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. Governments set a price, generally per tonne of carbon dioxide, charged to emitters. It makes the cost of emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases higher, thereby creating a strong incentive for individuals and businesses to reduce our polluting activities. For example we would be paying more for gas at the pump. By putting a price on pollution we’d be encouraged to find our own lowest cost ways of reducing emissions. It also boosts demand for low-carbon alternatives, spurring innovation. B.C. and Alberta have their own carbon taxes. In B.C. the revenue is used to reduce provincial income tax. Alberta uses the money to fund energy efficient programs. The federal government says it will impose a carbon tax in January on any province that doesn’t have its own form of emissions pricing and says the revenue will be returned directly to that province’s citizens. If that’s true, it escapes me why we are opposing a carbon tax that would encourage us to look at ways to reduce pollution if at the same time it puts more money in our pockets. It makes our politicians look like climate change deniers.
That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.