Thursday 21 April 2011
Unbelievably Stupid Idea
Regardless of who I support politically I am dubmfounded that people can possibly support this iead in any way shape or form. This has nothing to do with the Climate Change debate, simply because the tax will have zero effect on the climate nor is it possible for the money to be used to repair the climate, should it need it. This Carbon Tax is nothing more than making people in our society feeling all warm and fuzzy. If you want to feel warm and fuzzy go hug a rabbit. Yes I understand we will be taxing carbon polluters and not individuals but who's going to suffer and pay the price, as always the end user. What's even more ridiculous about this tax is that the money does nothing? It can't be used to have any effect on teh enviroment. Polluters will simply move whatever operations they can of shore... this entire debate is the biggest load of bull shit a government has ever fed a people! (excluding the Holucost) The only reasonable and smart thing to do is have a reward system.. How do you develope positive results in children, through punishment or through reward?? how to they train animals, through punishment or reward? Every single time it's reward reward reward.. however we're being told the way forward is punish punish punish. Reward people who reduce their carbon output via tax exemptions and reductions. It's just that simple!! I'll vote out every government regardless of which party decides to move forward with a tax. I'm not even going to explore the extreme impact it will have on our economy because regardless of how big an impact it would have the answer is still the same, reward polluters who reduce their emmissions rather than punish those that do not. Too F'n easy!
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Money talks, T. If I have to pay more for power because of a tax, I'll be looking for ways to spend less. Maybe switch to the company that has a more efficient hot water system, maybe I'll only switch off the lights, maybe I'll take the bus more often. If I choose not to save money in some way, that's my problem. But yes it's a choice - nobody forces you to pay more - if you don't like the price increase don't buy the product ;) And that includes electricity.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course money affects the environment. Even if the politicians just spend the tax on gourmet sandwiches, it doesn't matter. Mr and Mrs Joe Blogs will still feel the pain of the power bill and they will still start saving energy. Isn't that good for the environment?
You said we should have a reward system. It is a reward system. These price increases will reward the people who walk to the corner shop and leave the car at home. And reward the people who put solar panels in. They'll just laugh when people complain about their power bills.
Competition is how you reward the "good samaritan" companies who reduce their impact, because their costs will go down and so will their prices to customers... they'll be rewarded by getting all the customers. Complicated, no? But it still works... we shall see, anyway.
GRanted all of those things are valid, however the Australian economy relies on carbon production, bottom line is that the major carbon outputters will simply shift their operations overseas taking with them jobs and profits and taxes that the economy will be without.
ReplyDeleteI think you underestimate what effect it will have on the end user. Considering that the majority of people on the poverty line still smoke cigarettes yet the price keeps going up, most of them drink too. Those that suffer in the lower income families are the kids, very very sadly many of these parents will make sure there's beer in the fridge and fags on the kitchen bench but the heater will be off all winter.
At the end of the day we are pretty lazy and changing habits is harder than simply hitting people in the hip pocket and it'll change those habits. I remember when we all scoffed at the ridiculous ideas that a pack of smokes would be $10 one day back when they were $5 a pack, now they are $15 a pack and most of my friends who smoke who said they'd never pay $10 a pack are still smoking.
Petrol is at an all time high but there's just as many cars on the roads. I think it's a longer bow to draw that it'll have the idealistic effect that's hoped for. Not to mention the effect of me walking to the shops five times a week instead of using the car as opposed to major carbon producers moving off shore and still producing the exactly same amount of carbon is less than a piss in the ocean. Unless we stamp out third world countries and poverty there'll always be a tax free country on the planet that'll be happy for you to produce massive amounts of carbon.
And in terms of Australia's ecomony, it's econimic suicide. Unless every single country in the world joins us in a global collective effort, it's just about some people feeling warm and fuzzy