• Appaloosa
    +4

    Carbon tax is a pure money grab. Consumers pay for it, at it will only get bigger, and all of the money will be diverted to anything but clean energy sources. What a scam, just pay your $177 dollars and climate change goes away. You may as well send you money to the Jimmy Swaggart organization and he can pray away those nasty climate change demons.

    • AdelleChattre (edited 6 years ago)
      +3

      While you may be right about that, what does it matter? So what if the money goes to hookers and blow? If you want less of something, tax it. If putting greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere is something we want less of, we should tax it. If we really need less of it, we should tax it more. The money raised is beside the point, it's putting a cost on what otherwise would seem free but truly cost a great deal. The money raised? You could burn it on the town square, as long as you paid the tax. Better to compost it, though, probably — lower taxes. Now, carbon trading markets, those are a scam.

      • Appaloosa
        +3

        These are the same geniuses that think a soda tax is a good idea, while the sugar industry is subsidized by, oh gee, tax dollars. It's a money grab.

        • AdelleChattre
          +2

          How, other than taxing greenhouse gases, ought humanity limit their release then?

          • Appaloosa
            +3

            Operative word there....humanity. What about the dumping duty on solar panels from China. In the grand scheme of things, don't you think it would be wiser to allow a green industry of installing solar panels on rooftops a good idea. Elon Musk came out with some great attractive designs for that. Instead we are opening new coal plants, and of course Elon's electric cars rely on cheap electricity. There is no grand scheme of things. It's all about getting money. Gas taxes were put on at the pump to pay for road infrastructure upkeep...and lo and behold...the money collected seems to be MIA.

            • Appaloosa (edited 6 years ago)
              +4

              https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3239332-is-...ed-electricity-of-solar-panels-taxable-income

              More brilliance. It goes on an on. Even when you create a choice, an alternative, most people have none, to offset emissions, you get penalized.

            • AdelleChattre
              +4

              Well, what about solar? Last year, of all the major energy sources in the U.S., solar wasn’t even a single percentage point. Significantly less than zero point whatever at night, of course. Hydrocarbons, Baby, were two-thirds. The vast majority of our energy comes from fossil fuels. All the renewables together don’t come close to nuclear, which is barely a fraction of oil etc.

              So, realistically, tariffs on Chinese solar coming into the U.S. doesn’t even begin to rate against the need to somehow begin to tamp down on greenhouse gas emissions. The question stands: how are we going to do that without taxing those emissions?

              Agreed the U.S. gas tax is absurd, but try telling the railroads that there’s no state and federal spending on highways. If it weren’t for that outlay, railroads would be vastly more economical than trucking. Diesel.

            • Appaloosa (edited 6 years ago)
              +2
              @AdelleChattre -

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_by_country

              It's not huge, I agree, but it is growing, and faster in some countries than others.

              It has grown quite a bit in the past several years though, US is now 1.4% and globally 1.8% . Worth noting, Japan @ 5%, Germany @ 6%. Italy @ 7.5%, UK @ 3.4%....and they don't have the great expanse of the badlands of the US. I would imagine that with proper incentive, the US could be much bigger with advancements to harvesting making it even more attractive.

              Anyway, as far as taxing, companies won't get the bill, you will, and as long as you pay, you'll be getting your energy from fossil fuels,because you can't choose an option. Uncle Sam will get more revenue to fund it's Club Med.