Here’s my take on a carbon tax. Let’s suppose there are only two people involved. One pays $1000 in carbon tax and the other pays $200. Each person then gets a $600 tax rebate. One has to admit that this should help to reduce the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere that is  causing climate change. Yet nobody likes the idea of paying more taxes. This is like a baby who thinks they won’t like a new food. The mother will say, “Just try a little bit.” “There, that wasn’t so bad. Let’s try a little bit more.” And so on. Our government is doing just that, starting out with a little bit.

Yet the person paying $200 and getting back $600 may still not believe they are coming out ahead. The next step then is to have an app that will estimate the amount of carbon tax you pay with suggestions on how to reduce it.

The next step after that is to use block chain technology to assign all carbon used to an end user. The person would then have a card they could present to get discounts or special offers for being a low user. It could determine the price of your Tim Horton’s coffee.

Some people who were leery about the tax in the first place will be begging for it to go higher because they will get a financial advantage. On top of that consider the stimulus given to the economy by people spending their tax rebate and spending money to reduce the amount of carbon tax they pay.

Let’s give it a try!

Bill Moses

Owen Sound