I remember hearing the expression “if they could they’d tax the air”, and thinking how ridiculous an idea that would be. Kind of like the old expression “Yeah, and the Pope’s Polish”. We’ve come a long way since my youth.
In the recently released report Getting to 2050: Canada’s Transition to a Low-emission Future one of the recommendations is the introduction of a carbon tax.
The concern I have related to a carbon “tax” is that the government can easily get dependent on it. Anytime additional revenue is needed for other programs the easy solution is to raise the “carbon tax”.
We’ve seen how the government has become addicted to booze, tobacco, and gambling related revenue – the sin taxes. I haven’t noticed any reduction in the booze consumption levels or any decrease in gambling. The main result is that governments have become hooked on sin-tax revenues, and my fear is we will now get hooked on carbon-tax revenue.
Let’s also remember that income tax was introduced as a temporary measure to support the war effort at the end of WW1. And we haven’t managed to wean ourselves off that one in almost 100 years.
Update: Speaking of the government addiction to gambling, our very own Dalton McGuinty should consider checking into a re-hab centre:
As casinos continue to see a decline in revenues because of fewer American visitors, the Mcguinty government is calling on Ottawa to amend the Criminal Code and create casino “Sportsbooks.”
