I think a lot of people don’t get the situation with our friend CO2 and taxation thereof. (Probably fewer in LJ-land than elsewhere, but regardless)
A tax on CO2 is not going to affect your breathing. Let’s talk about carbon for a sec. There are three relevant stores of carbon on earth. 1) the atmosphere (CO2) 2) all life on the planet (fats, carbs, and a bunch of other chenicals) and 3) subterranean stores (coal, oil, etc).
Atmospheric and living carbon trade back and forth. Plants turn CO2 into sugars, and we reverse that process (to simplify). That is not a problem.
But, when we turn subterranean carbon into atmospheric carbon there is no easy way to put it back underground. Most of our electricity and the overwhelming majority of our transportation turns previously subterranean carbon into atmospheric carbon.
So the obvious and easy way to tax it is to tax the carbon as we extract it from the ground, or as it comes into our ports. So you can breathe a little easier; your lungs are not part of global warming.
what’s the point of taxing it?
i mean this more generally – what is it meant to encourage?
is it to encourage alternative forms of power? to limit usage? i’m not sure it would do that – though maybe the tax dollars could be spent on research. but would they? hmmm….
It’s meant to encourage more efficient use of carbon inputs and to reduce the quantity of carbon consumed/emitted. To internalize the externalities. The revenue could be directed towards research into alternative energy sources, though that has a separate set of issues.
Is that supposed to be a joke? I don’t get it, and now I’m feeling dumb for not getting the nerd joke.
What would a carbon tax have to do with breathing? I mean, is that a pun? Usually I’m good with puns!
Because we exhale CO2.
Ohhhhh. Yeah, we do.
Well, my spider plants don’t.
wine fermentation
Does that mean the large wine producers who create tons of CO2 through fermentation would not be taxed under your scheme? (since they originally captured the CO2 by turning it into grape sugars)
Or would you propose taxing the fermentation process for CO2 production, and subsidizing the grape growing process for CO2 offsets?
Re: wine fermentation
correct, they would not be taxed. You tax the carbon as it is extracted from subterranean storage.
suddenly, i’m reminded of http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode15.htm#4
right because taxing coal mining and oil/gas extraction is just like taxing sex. =)
well, taxing the air we breathe was what made me think of it 😉