April Fools!! Here's your Carbon Tax F#ckers!!!

Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
5,693
3,570
113
Edmonton
If you had to define the term “Carbon Tax” into a few sentences that also describes the reasoning for its existence, how would you do so?

Going forward, on the financial spectrum of who is affected by the carbon tax, on the top end are the rich who won’t really notice it and who’s behaviour won’t change. On the bottom end are the poor who really can’t do anything about it but will receive rebates regardless to offset this tax (& I’m not saying that’s wrong), and in the middle will be the rest paying for this carbon tax who, regardless of what they do to reduce their carbon footprint will pay more and more carbon tax every year.

Those in the middle can either not change their behaviour, being “Incentively” taxed until they eventually qualify for rebates, or do everything they to lower their carbon footprint while paying a carbon tax and not qualifying for a rebate just to try and stay where they are financially, like hamsters on a wheel that speeds up incrementally every single year on April Fools day.

That’s where it feels like I’m at regarding the Carbon Tax, but maybe it’s one of those “Forest for the Trees” thing where I’m too busy running on the Hamster Wheel to stop and see a different perspective.
I believe that the carbon tax is punitive because that's exactly what governments are required to do as per the UN Agenda 2030. The more governments tax fossil fuels, the better they like it and the poor countries will suffer and the Wealthier countries will decline in living standards. That's the plan.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,846
7,790
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Most places in Regina SK are $1.479 here this morning, & like Edmonton AB we’re in an oil producing province with a refinery right in town.

Here’s a zoom able map to gas prices in Canada (& can be switched to US also)
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,435
7,004
113
Washington DC
Most places in Regina SK are $1.479 here this morning, & like Edmonton AB we’re in an oil producing province with a refinery right in town.

Here’s a zoom able map to gas prices in Canada (& can be switched to US also)
Means nothing, just as "oil-producing country" means nothing. The chain of economics in oil production, distillation, and distribution is vast and complex. Pretty fair chance the gas you put in your car, if it came from SK at all, has been to Texas (or further) on its way to the pump.

But given that the U.S. and Canada are bordering, oil-producing countries with mostly-free trade, I suspect the difference is mostly taxes. We pay state sales tax, the Federal excise tax (18.5 cents per gallon), and sometimes other state excise taxes on gas.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,846
7,790
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Means nothing, just as "oil-producing country" means nothing. The chain of economics in oil production, distillation, and distribution is vast and complex. Pretty fair chance the gas you put in your car, if it came from SK at all, has been to Texas (or further) on its way to the pump.

But given that the U.S. and Canada are bordering, oil-producing countries with mostly-free trade, I suspect the difference is mostly taxes. We pay state sales tax, the Federal excise tax (18.5 cents per gallon), and sometimes other state excise taxes on gas.
I hear you. The upgrader in the city here is the Coop Heavy Oil Upgrader, & I fill at the Coop service station that’s both closest to my home & place of employment. The difference would be mostly taxes.

 

Johnnny

Frontiersman
Jun 8, 2007
9,388
124
63
Third rock from the Sun
It’s 20+% higher than what the Americans are paying….& they might be using gas refined in Edmonton.

It kills ya doesnt it.

It's the same in other industries. There were until maybe a few years ago, mining companies that would send their concentrate overseas to germany for example to be smelted. Then that comes back to us in over priced vehicles. Should be smelted here, we have the capacity to do so on the Atlantic.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,435
7,004
113
Washington DC
It kills ya doesnt it.

It's the same in other industries. There were until maybe a few years ago, mining companies that would send their concentrate overseas to germany for example to be smelted. Then that comes back to us in over priced vehicles. Should be smelted here, we have the capacity to do so on the Atlantic.
It's all about where it can be done most cheaply. (With plenty of "the payoffs and the ripoffs/And the things nobody saw" mixed in.)
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,846
7,790
113
Regina, Saskatchewan

From higher taxes to revolving lockdowns, government decisions during the pandemic have been full of pain. But that pain hasn’t been felt by those pulling the levers.

While millions of their constituents struggled, Members of Parliament gave themselves two pay raises. Their third pandemic pay raise is scheduled for April 1.
April Fools Day. Go figure.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,435
7,004
113
Washington DC

From higher taxes to revolving lockdowns, government decisions during the pandemic have been full of pain. But that pain hasn’t been felt by those pulling the levers.

While millions of their constituents struggled, Members of Parliament gave themselves two pay raises. Their third pandemic pay raise is scheduled for April 1.
April Fools Day. Go figure.
Ya know, if ya let 'em take unlimited bribes. . . um. . . campaign contributions, and play the stock market, they'll probably settle for no more pay raises.

Works for Congress.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,846
7,790
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
So, most of us have to have one vehicle that’s fuel efficient for long trips, and a second vehicle that can haul cargo, etc…so the answer is at least a third vehicle or two per household that would also need to be registered, that we can maybe use five months of the year in our climate???

Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ont., is calling on the federal government to freeze the federal carbon pricing increase on April 1, arguing “now is the wrong time for any new burden.”

April Fools Day. Again the irony does not escape the nation or at least shouldn’t….

In a letter sent to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Brown mentioned “record energy costs driven by inflation, government policy, and supply concerns” as factors affecting those in his community who cannot afford the currently high gas and energy prices.


“The supply concerns caused by Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and other inflationary pressures have made energy unaffordable for many. Canceling the increase on the carbon tax right now is the right call,” he wrote in the letter sent Wednesday.

“No new burdens should be on the backs of taxpayers during a period of economic upheaval.”

The federal government is set to raise the price on pollution next month to $50 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions — up 25 per cent from last year’s $40 per tonne pricing. It should continue rising $15 each following year until 2030 until it costs $170 per tonne.

In his letter, Brown stressed that the pandemic has been an “economic tidal wave” for residents and small businesses in Brampton. He added that some are “facing a choice” between filling their vehicle with gas and paying their home heating bill or paying rent or buying groceries. The rest at the above LINK.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,435
7,004
113
Washington DC
So, most of us have to have one vehicle that’s fuel efficient for long trips, and a second vehicle that can haul cargo, etc…so the answer is at least a third vehicle or two per household that would also need to be registered, that we can maybe use five months of the year in our climate???
Nope. e-bikes.