Quote:
Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
But that is where green taxes are really supposed to work - on industry. If company X can find a way to shave costs and have lower prices than company Y and thus sell more product, then company X will have a market advantage. Therefore companies that are being taxed due to their CO2 output, may actually have a market reason to clean up their act.
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That might work in a perfect world, however it would still cost company X a lot of money to retool their manufacturing or industry, probably more then the taxes could take, so they're going to push those losses on the consumer. Beyond that, this really isn't about competition because we're talking about increases in sectors which means that all companies in that sector will be effected. Lets say Company X and Company Y both manufacture cars. They both get heavily taxed under the carbon tax, so they have a choice, they can accept the tax and push the losses on the consumer, or they can retool at major costs to reduce their carbon signature, then they push those retooling costs onto the consumer, plus they will still be tax, probably a little less, so they push that taxation costs onto the consumer.
[quote=Devils'Advocate;1356754If you believe that both company X and company Y will both just raise their prices to cover the new tax, then you believe that capitalism is a broken system. As a card carrying member of the Green Party, I've supported CO2 taxes long before I ever heard the name Stephane Dion. I think the profit motive is far more effective in sparking creative thinking than hard caps and regulation are.[/quote]
There is no such thing as perfect capitalism or capitalism in a vacuum, its not about reducing prices its about increasing profits.
In a country that has a taxable surplus, they shouldn't be looking at any kind of new taxation systems even if it is supposedly which it won't be, they should be using part of the surpluses for corporate grants for companies that work towards new processes which reduce their carbon signatures. Encourage instead of punish.
All Dion is going to do is exempt every industry East of Sask and buy votes.