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Re: Carbon Emissions

Reply #30 –
There's no logic in dismissing taxes because they are merely passed on to the consumer.  That's what makes them effective.  Using subsidies and taxes to ensure that good and bad externalities are internalised in the price is essential to ensuring that the market price produces the best outcome.

Now, we have the ludicrous situation in which coal miners and coal-fired electricity producers whinge about renewable energy suppliers receiving subsidies while having to pay no tax to reflect the negative externalities they produce.  And they are winning the political battle in Australia, persuading Abbott to reduce subsidies and targets.

Next thing will be an attempt to entrench the coal industry's position by locking us into long-term contracts and subsidies to ensure that coal-fired power remains cheaper than renewable power whose generation continues to fall as The Age reported today.

Re: Carbon Emissions

Reply #31 –


True leader of the COALition?
Reality always wins in the end.

Re: Carbon Emissions

Reply #32 –
Quote from: Mav – on
There's no logic in dismissing taxes because they are merely passed on to the consumer.  That's what makes them effective.  Using subsidies and taxes to ensure that good and bad externalities are internalised in the price is essential to ensuring that the market price produces the best outcome.

Now, we have the ludicrous situation in which coal miners and coal-fired electricity producers whinge about renewable energy suppliers receiving subsidies while having to pay no tax to reflect the negative externalities they produce.  And they are winning the political battle in Australia, persuading Abbott to reduce subsidies and targets.

Next thing will be an attempt to entrench the coal industry's position by locking us into long-term contracts and subsidies to ensure that coal-fired power remains cheaper than renewable power whose generation continues to fall as The Age reported today.

While I agree with your general sentiment, the short term outlook of our mining and energy sector leaves me cold. They have no interest in building efficiencies because they have no interest in upgrading or re-investing. They have a slash and burn mentality which I would claim is typical of psychopaths, gouging the end users for a short term win(fiscal and political), with zero consideration of long term consequence. It's like Exxon blaming the users of cars for the Exxon Valdez disaster!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"