More Support For Carbon Tax

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Carbon copy taxes

Liberal leader Stephane Dion will it seems announce plans to impose a "carbon tax" in the unlikely event he should ever become Prime Minister.

The media is spinning this as a bold move given that Canadians are already fed up with gasoline prices which are soaring faster than Michael Moore's cholesterol count.

But actually, for Dion it's a no-brainer.

A carbon tax, of some sort, is clearly in the works. Even some conservatives and libertarians support the idea.

In fact, I suspect the reason Dion spilled the beans for his carbon tax idea was to preempt the Conservatives who were probably planning something similar.

Does this make carbon taxes a good idea?

I don't think so. Once you set the precedent that raising taxes is a good way to save the planet you are guaranteed one thing -- more taxes.

I suspect that before long we will see such new measures as:

* Drive-Thru Tax
Everybody knows idling your car while waiting for you morning coffee in the Tim Horton's Drive thru adds to global warming, so why not tax it? To offset this tax, "roll-up the rim" prizes will include a one-time tax exemption.

* Toilet Paper Tax
The less said about this the better.

* David Suzuki Surcharge
This will be not so much of a tax per se, but more like tribute money paid to Canada's most famous environmentalist. He will use the money to dream up new environmental taxes.

We will be told, of course, that these taxes will be "revenue neutral", which is another way of saying, if you want to keep your revenue move to Switzerland.