Comments on: Wednesday Night #1368

By: Diana Thébaud Nicholson

Diana Thébaud Nicholson — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:50:10 +0000

The carbon experiment Terence Corcoran in The National Post
In any discussion of carbon taxes, no matter what their form, it is important to keep the core economic theory in focus. The basic idea, advanced by early 20th-century economist Arthur C. Pigou, is that if a society wants to reduce the use of something that’s undesirable, the best way to do that is to have the government tax it. Pigou is the magician behind the great global pressure from economists and politicians … for taxes on carbon emissions.
The theory is simple enough, and intuitively appealing. In the Pigouvian world, if you raise the price of carbon, the laws of supply and demand will kick in and carbon use–from burning coal, oil, gas, wood– will fall. As carbon use falls, the threat of man-made global warming will be reduced, maybe even eliminated. Beautifully simple. Who could not like such a clean solution to a messy problem?
Unfortunately, little of what Pigou said on the subject of Pigouvian taxes is of any use to policy makers. How high should the tax be? How do you set targets for measuring effectiveness? What do you do about the side effects of the taxes? What do you do with the tax revenue?

By: Diana Thébaud Nicholson

Diana Thébaud Nicholson — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:08:30 +0000

But we can count on the National Post to oppose, as usual suggesting that there is no moral fibre in the Canadian voter.
A carbon tax that won’t fly
Stephane Dion is again musing about a carbon tax. During his bid for the Liberal leadership in 2006, he called it “bad policy.” Then, last spring, he suggested a carbon tax was a good policy, but not so good that the Liberals should adopt it. Now, Mr. Dion appears to be saying that a carbon tax may be the right policy for the Liberals after all. His most recent flip flop could not come at a better time for the Conservatives. With high gas prices already enraging consumers, Mr. Dion’s idea will be suicidal at the polls.

By: Diana Thébaud Nicholson

Diana Thébaud Nicholson — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:35:39 +0000

Amidst all the critical outcries, we were somewhat surprised by the Gazette editorial stance on the Liberals’ carbon tax proposal:
Dion’s carbon-tax proposal shows courage, good sense
Liberal leader Stéphane Dion has spoken up in favour of a revenue-neutral carbon tax. This is the best thing he has done in months.
It’s easy to forget, in the current fog of disdain for Dion, that he excelled in his two cabinet portfolios, first as the minister against Quebec sovereignty and then as environment minister. And here’s an environmental policy which makes sense. If he sticks with this concept, and if he gets the details right, Dion has a chance here to challenge Canadians to live up to their best image of themselves. Are we just energy hogs or are we prepared to make an effort to do better?