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The worst part is that all of these problems are more or less easy to solve economically. Just tax the externalities. A gas tax that pay for carbon offsets for
by darawk 7y ago
The worst part is that all of these problems are more or less easy to solve economically. Just tax the externalities. A gas tax that pay for carbon offsets for each gallon of gas would not actually add all that much at the pump. Barely anything, in fact, about $.10/gallon according to [this source](https://greengasmovement.org/faq/ https://greengasmovement.org/faq/).
It's kind of incredible to me that we've banned plastic straws, but we aren't willing to add 10 cents / gallon to the cost of gas.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoYes, if the goal was to actually reduce emissions, that would mean we need to reduce energy usage, and that would mean less moving around for less amount of mass. And that means incentivizing people to stay put, I.e. taxing fuel. But that isn’t the goal; the goal is to look and feel like something is being done, but to not let it affect one’s quality of life.
- darawk 7y agoWell, the goal isn't necessarily to reduce doing stuff. The goal is to price the costs of doing stuff appropriately. That incentivizes two things: 1. Doing less stuff 2. Doing the same amount of stuff with fewer negative side effects. In the long run we'll get 2, and in the short run we'll get 1. And simply applying the tax will allow that transition to be seamless and efficient.
- onion2k 7y ago$.10 a gallon adds up if you're a trucking business that buys 100,000 gallons a day. That's the point where business starts to lobby against the tax. And exempting businesses from the tax makes it pointless.
- darawk 7y agoYa I get that that's why it isn't happening. It's just ridiculous.