FELDSTED -- Governments must never be allowed to tax us for more than an adequate amount to provide us with the services they are responsible for; we have lost sight of that axiom
Here's what everyone seems to be missing in the PBO's climate policy
math. Arguments over the carbon tax overlook the fact that every alternative
comes with its own costs
Aaron Wherry ~~ CBC News ~~ Jun 15, 2019
The simple math of climate policy rarely makes for straightforward
politics.
Consider this week's analysis by the
Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), and the respective responses of the
Liberals and Conservatives.
Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are projected to decline to 592
megatonnes by 2030 — a significant reduction, but still 79 megatonnes
above the target to which this country has committed. In the interests of
framing future policy actions, the PBO estimated the sort of additional carbon
levy that might be needed to eliminate those remaining megatonnes.
According to the PBO, that new carbon tax, applied broadly, could start
at $6 per tonne in 2023 and rise to $52 per tonne by 2030.
The Conservatives were, perhaps predictably, aghast at the suggestion.
But that puts Andrew Scheer's Conservative opposition in the odd position
of complaining about the cost of meeting an international target that was first
established by Stephen Harper's Conservative government — a government in
which several of Scheer's frontbenchers were cabinet ministers.
Carbon
taxes are an experiment in socialist social engineering. Calculating carbon tax
amounts hides something far more sinister. The federal government has no power
to impose a carbon tax.
If
this government can force us into accepting carbon taxes as a valid means of
reducing oil and gas consumption, it has won an important psychological war.
The
next step could be to tax electrical power bills to reduce consumption. That
avoids the costs of building new generating facilities to meet increasing
demands. A few people will expire from cold in the winter and heat in the
summer, but it worked with petroleum; it can work with electricity.
Once
the precedent is set, the government has unlimited powers to tax us into
submission to its will. If you find that consistent with participatory
democracy and governments elected to serve our collective needs, you are more
broad-
minded
than I.
Governments
must never be allowed to tax us for more than an adequate amount to provide us
with the services they are responsible for. We have lost sight of that axiom.
We
have allowed governments to tax far in excess of what is needed to provide
services.
That is the equivalent of handing a minor $1,000 in cash, a bottle of
whiskey, keys to a car and wishing him or her a happy evening on the town.
Our
electoral system should produce a parliament of sober, responsible people to
govern on our behalf. I will repeat; to govern on our behalf, not to
govern us. That does not seem to happen. There is too much money sloshing
around Ottawa not to tempt governments into spending extravagantly, foolishly
and irresponsibly.
The
thought of our government taxing us to infringe on our freedom of choice should
have us rioting in the streets. Global warming is a trojan horse that make
subjecting us to government decree and encroachment on our rights and freedoms
look palatable.
It is
not ... it is the root of totalitarianism that will replace our democracy if we
are not careful.
John
Feldsted
Political
Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg,
Manitoba
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