Kyoto - A Perspective (Part 5) - EMISSIONS TRADING AND CARBON TAX.
Since PA Pundits is a recent addition to my blog reads this is part 5 of this blog series. Be sure to check out the previous posts below.
************
Sphere: Related ContentNote the subtle change in the sub heading, from carbon footprint to carbon tax.
In the previous piece I mentioned the psychology aspect in distracting you from the real point, and how I mentioned that the same applies for the bigger picture.
The small picture is the small extra payment on the airline ticket to offset that carbon element of your flight, and how you feel better knowing you have made the flight carbon neutral, even though the environment was actually harmed by that flight.There was an article recently in our Australian media, and to show I’m not making it up, I’ll include the link.
This article mentioned that there could be a huge windfall for the government if an emissions trading scheme was introduced, and whatever you do, don’t refer to it as a new tax, but refer to it as something bland and ‘nice’ sounding, something acceptable.One thing that interests me in a wry sort of manner is that with a flourish, our Prime Minister signs off on Kyoto, and then 17 weeks later (and it’s always later) the huge implications regarding the potential cost reach the surface.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/20/2194865.htm
Incidentally, this report is from the ABC, which in this case, stands for Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It has no allegiance with or relationship to the US ABC network, and in fact the Australian ABC is actually 10 years older than the US ABC, an offshoot of NBC. Our ABC is the national broadcasting network, and is non commercial. (See how you guys are learning about Australia along the way. We’re more like you than any other nation on the Planet, although Australians might fiercely disagree.)
Later, some of you might like to read the comments from readers to get some idea of the feedback, but the article is included to show that Emissions Trading could be worth up to $20Billion. That works out to $1,000 for every man woman and child in Australia, per year.
Extrapolated out to US figures, that works out close to $300Billion, but the figure is approximately the same at $1,000 per person, exchange rates being relatively similar. So that works out for that average Pennsylvania family that I introduced as an example in the previous piece of husband, wife, and 2 children around $4,000 per year or close to an extra $80.00 out of the weekly household budget.
![[Valid RSS]](http://politicalpartypoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Considering how much Australian domestic airline tickets already cost, this can’t be good news for the Aussie consumer. I lived in Oz for almost 4 years, and was shocked at how much it cost to fly around the place. I had to fly from the east coast of Australia to the UAE on several occasions, and my ticket (full-fare economy, because I needed the flexibility) for the 4-hour flight from Sydney to Perth always cost me more–quite a bit more–than the 10-hour flight from Perth to Dubai. But, hey, the Aussies voted for “change” in November, and “change” is what they’re getting.