I’m just poor. Most of the people reading this are richer than me. So maybe they dont mind paying an extra $1,250 dollars a year for the new carbon tax. Another buck and a half for a case of beer. Another ten per cent for freight costs. Another $2,400 on a new house. Another five per cent for a new vehicle. And so on.
The trouble with these numbers is that they don’t end there. When your local business has to pay the carbon tax plus the increased cost of freight, you can be sure they will pass those costs onto you. You might describe this new carbon tax as forced inflation, which wouldn’t be so bad as long as your wages inflate along at the same pace. But that doesn’t seem to happen enough in this world, so most of us will have a lower standard of living. It will be especially hard on people with fixed incomes and poor people.
Some of you may say this is OK because it is for a good cause. I disagree. I know this money from this tax will not lower the temperature or the CO2 in the atmosphere. Who knows where the money will go, but I don’t imagine it changing our atmosphere in any way.
I’m just poor and I don’t feel like spending even one nickel towards the carbon tax. My suggestion is if you are worried about it then you should just drive less or not at all.
The Liberals and the NDP if elected will both bring in the carbon tax. So if you’re rich and you believe that your extra thousand or two will help global warming, climate change or whatever they call it now, then by all means vote for them. Not me though. I’m just poor.
Geof Barrington,
Whitehorse