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Here in Canada, the Liberal party recently ran on the platform of a carbon tax ("The Green Shift"). They lost badly. People just heard "tax." It's not entirely
by ojbyrne 18y ago
Here in Canada, the Liberal party recently ran on the platform of a carbon tax ("The Green Shift"). They lost badly. People just heard "tax."
It's not entirely a clear data point, because they also had a leader perceived as weak. But the carbon tax was a big part of why he was perceived as weak.
- Xichekolas 18y agoI wonder if they tried to market it as a 'Fossil Fuel Tax' ... and then sold it to voters as a tax on Big-Bad Oil Companies ... if it'd garner more support. People seem pretty convinced that oil companies are the root of all evil, so they might actually embrace the word 'tax' in this case. (Of course, the oil companies and utilities could just point out that it would raise the price of gas, which would kill it. You could propose a law that gave everyone free ice cream for life and people would impose it if it raised their gas prices by a penny.)
- ojbyrne 18y agoThat wouldn't work in Canada, because of the oil sands boom. Basically vast amounts of oil that weren't viable below $40 a barrel suddenly created billionaires overnight. And took our dollar from $0.75 to $1.05 (though now in retreat).