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Of course ICEs get subsidies. The subsidy is in the form of a carbon tax that we do not collect, even though we should. Every ICE produces emissions which will
by jwr 8y ago
Of course ICEs get subsidies. The subsidy is in the form of a carbon tax that we do not collect, even though we should. Every ICE produces emissions which will soon make most of our planet uninhabitable. There should be a carbon tax, so that we can offset this destruction: by building nuclear plants, or figuring out how to re-capture the carbon emitted into the atmosphere.
And yet we do not collect that tax, hence heavily subsidizing ICEs. This is credited by our children and grandchildren, who will end up with a massively changed (for the worse) planet.
- gwright 8y agoYou have a point about the negative externalities, but insisting on using the word "subsidy" for that concept is just going to confuse people. That isn't the accepted meaning of "subsidy", in casual conversation at least.
- jwr 8y agoHmm — how else would you call it? As I understand it, future generations are subsidizing the price of our fossil fuels and internal combustion engines, making ICEs artificially cheap by not considering their environmental impact. Subsidies do not have to be in the form of cash: many come in the form of tax breaks and I would consider this to be one such case.
- gwright 8y agoIt is just confusing to use the same word to suggest explicit assistance (cash, tax breaks, etc) and "failure to penalize". I guess mathematically they both represent a reduction in cost when compared to an alternative scenario (no subsidy and some sort of tax/fee for the externality) but they are different mechanisms and so it makes sense for them to have different words to describe them if you want to communicate clearly.
- Consultant32452 8y agoIt gets far worse when you consider the total cost of wars to protect the flow of oil.
- camjohnson26 8y agoThere were still wars before oil was a thing.
- chopin 8y agoEVs don't pay carbon taxes either (which they should).
- toomuchtodo 8y agoYou’re arguing for carbon taxes on electrical generation. Entirely agree. This would push coal and natural gas out of the electrical grid generation mix even faster, making EVs even cleaner.