3 ms·

>it's very difficult to tax carbon if it punish poor people. Inequality and carbon emissions are deeply intertwined. The atmosphere belongs equally to everybod

• jokoon 5y ago
  > And rich people tend to pollute more, so it will make poor people better off. In the long term, poor people will be better off, yes, but not in the short term. I'm not convinced. Carbon improves the living standard of everybody. Even a fair and progressive carbon tax will hit poor people harder in relative terms. So even if it hits rich people harder, it will much unpleasant on poor people than it will be on poor people. To give an example, removing 5% of the income of poor people is much more unpleasant that removing 30% of the income of rich people, for plenty of reasons that are explained in studies on inequality. So I don't disagree that rich people pollute more and will be taxed a lot, but it doesn't change the fact that poor people having been benefitting from CO2 emissions, so the 30% of rich people, as individuals and not corporations, are not responsible for the majority of CO2 emissions. Cutting the emissions of corporations will also affect poor people in unpleasant ways.
  • mrob 5y ago
    >Even a fair and progressive carbon tax will hit poor people harder in relative terms. So even if it hits rich people harder, it will much unpleasant on poor people than it will be on poor people. The tax is redistributed equally as dividend, so your net tax is negative if you pollute less than average.