Squalid posted:

No one's ignoring anything. There are plenty of ways such effects can be counter-acted.

No, there aren't, and you haven't even presented any other than vague comparisons with "Europe" and its consumption taxes which exempt energy and food to prevent that from happening. The carbon tax itself will raise poverty and, even after factoring in transfer payments to the poor using the revenue collected, can't nearly offset food and energy prices doubling. Barring some huge technical advance in renewable energy the cost of shifting from oil to wind or solar would greatly lower living standards.

Edited by mustang19 (May 18, 2013 20:37:40)

mustang19 posted:

Squalid posted:

No one's ignoring anything. There are plenty of ways such effects can be counter-acted.

No, there aren't, and you haven't even presented any other than vague comparisons with "Europe" and its consumption taxes which exempt energy and food to prevent that from happening. The carbon tax itself will raise poverty and, even after factoring in transfer payments to the poor using the revenue collected, can't nearly offset food and energy prices doubling. Barring some huge technical advance in renewable energy the cost of shifting from oil to wind or solar would greatly lower living standards.

you can subsidize food as much as you want, or boost the dole as much necessary. This isn't an insurmountable problem ya dingus

you can subsidize food as much as you want, or boost the dole as much necessary. This isn't an insurmountable problem ya dingus

That's not an argument for a carbon tax. You can raise progressive taxes to cover the same programs without increasing poverty.

A fossil fuel tax is mainly a tax on food, gas and utilities. Leftist parties have fought hard in the past for these goods to be exempt from consumption taxes. By getting rid of these exemptions you're basically advocating a rightwing policy.

Edited by mustang19 (May 20, 2013 04:02:41)