Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
so the carbon tax in your mind has exactly zero to do with emissions and green technology and everything to do with redistribution of wealth.
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If this question is pointed at me, I should preface that I'm fine with the B.C. version where corporate and personal taxes were reduced to equal the increased income from both sectors' carbon taxes. I'm not fine with the sort of boondoggle personal wealth redistribution and distribution of revenue from profitable enterprises to unprofitable ones that the Alberta government is planning.
Yes, there are increased costs at all levels (marginal ones once an efficient change in corporate and personal taxes are netted out), but if the goal is to reduce carbon emissions, a B.C.-style tax is the most efficient way to do it. This method is much efficient than through regulations and cap and trade which also increase costs, but do so in much more expensive ways relative to actual reductions, with the costs being opaque to consumers.
My point was that if increasing cost of a good naturally decreases consumption of that good, and the same also follows for labour. The only argument that I'd accept as debatable is about the amount of elasticity between the cost and the demand, but it's not inelastic.