Comments on: France Introduces Carbon Tax of $25 Per Metric Ton

By: wylerassociate

wylerassociate — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 04:03:03 +0000

I would love to see america go to more nuclear energy but a carbon tax would never happen in america. The state of California is going to a cap & trade system which will be interesting to see what happens.

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:08:54 +0000

A direct carbon tax wouldn’t work in the U.S. The party that enacts it will be voted out of office. The U.S. already has indirect carbon taxes with the use of tax credits for solar power and other alternative energy. For example, I just picked up a $2,500 tax credit for buying a used NGV and I get to drive at a subsidized 93 cents a gallon. There are other benefits ( http://www.rickety.us/2009/11/driving-on-the-cheap/ ) like driving in the HOV lane alone and free parking at SLC meters.

The advantage of tax credits is that it rewards the positive whereas a carbon tax punishes the supposed negative. The U.S. is as socialist as France, it just hides it better.

The emphasis of the U.S. should be an indirect carbon tax on foreign oil. It should take advantage of its 27% of world coal reserves and its abundant natural gas. After having driven a NGV for several months I would be inclined to promote greater tax credits and more subsidized fuel for these vehicles. The U.S. needs to leverage its assets, not punish itself with silly cap and trade laws.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:55:58 +0000

Time to overthrow the government! These socialist tree-hugging freaks will ruin us all!

By: Terry

Terry — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:51:02 +0000

I’ve got huge problems with a carbon tax, but without “redistribution”, how do you make the tax NOT regressive? Consider the concept of “lifeline” utility rates and tweak it specifically for carbon.

A poor person needs a certain amount of carbon to live, it’s the excess carbon which, if any carbon, should be taxed, not the base requirement.,

By: Erica Douglass

Erica Douglass — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:49:18 +0000

Mmm, socialism…

By: Kira

Kira — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:52:45 +0000

If France is doing it – shouldn’t that be reason enough NOT to? Who needs Muslim terrorists when we’ll dig our own graves!

By: Apex

Apex — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:09:16 +0000

I am all for the France model. Let’s do it. 85% nuclear engery. Lets get that started yesterday. The President has many proposals to get us off oil and onto Nuclear right? Oh, no proposals for that? Hmmm, so we put on cap and trade and then don’t build any nuclear plants and can’t build new coal plants because that is dirty and solar isn’t very wide spread cost effective yet and doesn’t produce high enough volumes of energy and wind has no good electrical transmission grids to move the energy from high wind areas to low wind areas and is expensive to build out and bio-fuels well if we burned up every bushel of corn we have we couldn’t replace 30% of our gasoline needs and you would hate to have to go buy anything with corn in it (almost everything) if we did that.

So yes, put on a carbon tax, should change a lot of things because we will then move to the alternatives …….. which we have no viable alternatives right now.

Build the nuclear plants now Mr. President, or else your cap and trade talk is hot air!

By: Flexo

Flexo — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:26:08 +0000

It’s my understanding tha the tax would occur at the point of sale.

By: Investor Junkie

Investor Junkie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:07:13 +0000

Taxes artificially force people to change behavior than letting the free market do it.

The questions we should be asking ourselves:
1. Is the world’s temperature changing?
2. If it is changing, is it caused by man?
3. Is there something we can do about it to reverse it’s affects?
4. If a tax is created to change one’s behavior, will it be enough to reduce carbon emissions (this assumes questions 1, 2 and 3 are true)?
4. Has cap-n-trade laws in other countries proved successful?
5. Will this be a world effort, or will some countries not participate and therefore have a competitive advantage?

For me at least, I believe it’s all hogwash, and man is pompus enough to think:
A. We created it
B. We are smart enough to reverse what we’ve “created”

I believe George Carlin said it best (NSFW):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyxuVFzKypU

“Save the planet? We don’t even know how to take care of ourselves”

The one thing France has over the US is the use of nuclear. I believe only 15% of our electric is generated from it, and 60% is from coal. We will see much higher cost increase in EVERYTHING if cap-n-trade were enacted with us.

IMHO we should be focused on energy independence, not green energy technologies. At least first, I don’t think

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:32:11 +0000

I guess the first question I would ask would be how is he going to determine the amount of carbon being used. Is he just going to tax the pants off of everyone. If I drive a hybrid I am going to emit considerably less carbon than someone driving a 1970 Buick. Would the tax just be tacked onto fuel sales?