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This is where carbon tax helps. Having to pay the true cost of goods helps everyone make better decisions. Maybe, hopefully, it also pushes the needle towards h

This is where carbon tax helps. Having to pay the true cost of goods helps everyone make better decisions. Maybe, hopefully, it also pushes the needle towards higher quality, more essential items and hence less waste. Yet, "make everything more expensive" is a challenging position to make progress on.

basisword 3y ago
Doesn’t this just drive up the cost for the people who are already struggling to afford these goods?
- thrance 3y ago
  It does, but it is also supposed to bring up the hidden costs of buying things in their prices, so that greener products that would do less harm would be cheaper than more destructive goods. For example, a plane ticket might be cheaper than a train one for the same trip but it costs more to the community in the long term because of global warming.
  - andrepd 3y ago
    And pollution. People forget that pollution is not just the fuzzy and far-off consequences of global warming, but also very real and immediate deaths and illnesses.
- makapuf 3y ago
  One of the solution for this would be to pay them more, by example with direct aid (coming from carbon taxes). They will then be able to chose better products or higher quality ones.
- jdlshore 3y ago
  A carbon dividend pairs effectively with a carbon tax. You give people (not businesses) an equal proportion of the tax collected. People who consume less than the average end up earning more than they spent.
  - wiml 3y ago
    How is "carbon dividend plus carbon tax" different from "cap and trade"? C&T seems to have gone very out of fashion, but it also seems to me to be the most equitable approach — I don't follow this closely enough, maybe I'm missing something.
    - jdlshore 3y ago
      It’s similar in some ways, but very different in practice. I don’t study these things, but my understanding is that cap & trade puts a hard limit on emissions, then allows businesses to trade carbon allowance as a new sort of currency. Carbon tax + dividend doesn’t put a hard limit, and it doesn’t establish a new currency/market. Instead, emissions are taxed at the business level and that revenue is paid out at the individual level. I like the way it plays to the strengths of our existing capitalistic system. It’s easy to ratchet up the taxes without affecting the little guy—even benefitting them. It seems easier to administer too.
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  It imposes the real cost of the goods including externalities. The costs will be borne by somebody, why not the consumer of the good? It also encourages people to find ways to get goods to consumers that are more efficient.

basisword 3y ago

Doesn’t this just drive up the cost for the people who are already struggling to afford these goods?

thrance 3y ago
It does, but it is also supposed to bring up the hidden costs of buying things in their prices, so that greener products that would do less harm would be cheaper than more destructive goods. For example, a plane ticket might be cheaper than a train one for the same trip but it costs more to the community in the long term because of global warming.
- andrepd 3y ago
  And pollution. People forget that pollution is not just the fuzzy and far-off consequences of global warming, but also very real and immediate deaths and illnesses.
makapuf 3y ago
One of the solution for this would be to pay them more, by example with direct aid (coming from carbon taxes). They will then be able to chose better products or higher quality ones.
jdlshore 3y ago
A carbon dividend pairs effectively with a carbon tax. You give people (not businesses) an equal proportion of the tax collected. People who consume less than the average end up earning more than they spent.
- wiml 3y ago
  How is "carbon dividend plus carbon tax" different from "cap and trade"? C&T seems to have gone very out of fashion, but it also seems to me to be the most equitable approach — I don't follow this closely enough, maybe I'm missing something.
  - jdlshore 3y ago
    It’s similar in some ways, but very different in practice. I don’t study these things, but my understanding is that cap & trade puts a hard limit on emissions, then allows businesses to trade carbon allowance as a new sort of currency. Carbon tax + dividend doesn’t put a hard limit, and it doesn’t establish a new currency/market. Instead, emissions are taxed at the business level and that revenue is paid out at the individual level. I like the way it plays to the strengths of our existing capitalistic system. It’s easy to ratchet up the taxes without affecting the little guy—even benefitting them. It seems easier to administer too.
dghlsakjg 3y ago
It imposes the real cost of the goods including externalities. The costs will be borne by somebody, why not the consumer of the good? It also encourages people to find ways to get goods to consumers that are more efficient.