4 ms·

We have carbon tax in BC for awhile... Personally, and people I know, generally aren't being much greener unless it's related general advancements in technology

We have carbon tax in BC for awhile... Personally, and people I know, generally aren't being much greener unless it's related general advancements in technology (eg led, hybrids etc). Instead it's hitting us in the pocket, when it's already higher cost of living in Vancouver. We pay highest gas prices in all of north america cause of it... Doesn't make us drive less... Just makes us spend more. Electricity has had 20% price increase over last few years, and expecting additional increases... So adding a electric vehicle doesn't sound so good when not a vast charging network/speed and are already paying tier2 (kwh rates higher) Transit isn't improving for the fastest growing suburbs very much. (While the transit execs are getting big bonus). Carbon tax is like a farce, like offsets imho from a high level

semi-extrinsic 9y ago
The trouble (IMO) with carbon tax on consumers is that it assumes demand (e.g. for driving your car) is elastic, when we know it's actually pretty inelastic. We actually have decades of data of inflation-adjusted increase in fuel price positively correlated with increase in driving, from all over the world. Carbon tax on businesses though, I think are much better - certainly they are if it spurs them to do stuff like carbon capture, or installing on-site renewables, etc.
schiffern 9y ago
Did BC implement it in a revenue neutral way (eg carbon dividend, or by cutting other taxes to match), or was it a net tax increase? Because it sounds like you actually object to tax hikes in general, not to a specific policy of what actions should be taxed.
- Godel_unicode 9y ago
  Gp appears to dislike policy-driven tax hikes which are ineffective at achieving the goal of the policy. See the difference?
  - schiffern 9y ago
    Mea culpa. My brain skipped right over the vague anecdote intended to show that it's ineffective. Obviously actual data are needed. >The 12.9% decrease in British Columbia’s per capita emissions in 2008-2013 compared to 2000-2007 was three-and-a-half times as pronounced as the 3.7% per capita decline for the rest of Canada. https://www.carbontax.org/blog/2015/12/17/british-columbias-carbon-tax-by-the-numbers/ https://www.carbontax.org/blog/2015/12/17/british-columbias-...

semi-extrinsic 9y ago

The trouble (IMO) with carbon tax on consumers is that it assumes demand (e.g. for driving your car) is elastic, when we know it's actually pretty inelastic. We actually have decades of data of inflation-adjusted increase in fuel price positively correlated with increase in driving, from all over the world. Carbon tax on businesses though, I think are much better - certainly they are if it spurs them to do stuff like carbon capture, or installing on-site renewables, etc.

schiffern 9y ago

Did BC implement it in a revenue neutral way (eg carbon dividend, or by cutting other taxes to match), or was it a net tax increase? Because it sounds like you actually object to tax hikes in general, not to a specific policy of what actions should be taxed.

Godel_unicode 9y ago
Gp appears to dislike policy-driven tax hikes which are ineffective at achieving the goal of the policy. See the difference?
- schiffern 9y ago
  Mea culpa. My brain skipped right over the vague anecdote intended to show that it's ineffective. Obviously actual data are needed. >The 12.9% decrease in British Columbia’s per capita emissions in 2008-2013 compared to 2000-2007 was three-and-a-half times as pronounced as the 3.7% per capita decline for the rest of Canada. https://www.carbontax.org/blog/2015/12/17/british-columbias-carbon-tax-by-the-numbers/ https://www.carbontax.org/blog/2015/12/17/british-columbias-...