Carbon tax petition
I’ve been participating in JustEarth, an environmental coalition spearheaded by former MP Lynn McDonald when the riding was called Broadview-Greenwood.
Although Lynn is an NDP member, she is pushing for a carbon tax, which the NDP has so far rejected. If you have some time, download the carbon tax petition and get your neighbours to sign it. In my experience, it’s actually an easy sell.
Be sure to mention that the petition specifically asks that the carbon tax be offset by a corresponding reduction in income taxes, and that these reductions be structured so that low-income Canadians aren’t hurt by the change.
| — Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu on 2008 Mar 4 in Actions, Ecology & sustainability, Green paperclip, Participatory democracy, Social justice & diversity |
Another tax is going to put the already poor middle class out in the streets. Fuel in Canada is an essential service!!
The pattern in Canada is that most people use less than the average amount of carbon. How is that possible? It’s because a small number of people use very high amounts — those who fly a lot, mostly. So if you do a revenue-neutral tax shift, as the Green Party proposes, and if you redistribute the proceeds of the carbon tax back to people in an even way, then most people will have more money, not less.
The average Canadian uses nearly 20 tons of carbon per year. People have suggested taxes in the range of $50 per ton. If that were the number chosen, then with a perfectly even payout of the carbon tax revenues, each Canadian would receive $1,000 each year. Most people would be hit with taxes that added up to less than that. And if you were hit with taxes more than that, you could choose to adjust (vacation closer to home, perhaps), and still keep the rebate.
The exact details of the tax, and the exact details of how the money would be returned to Canadians, isn’t specified by this petition. But this petition, like the Green Party position, is that it has to be structured in a way that it not an additional source of revenue for the government, and that while it encourages everyone to use less carbon, it doesn’t hurt those for whom fuel is essential.
If we had had a carbon tax a decade ago, we’d have more-efficient vehicles and less-scarce gas now.
I just recently came across your website and feel it would fit in very well with my clients link advertising campaign. Does Danforth Greens accept text link advertising?
Thank you for your consideration.
No, as a political group, and as a cause, we don’t want to be supported by advertising. Best of luck.