Carbon Tax on Hold Says Premier
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 @ 3:58 AM
Prince George, B.C.- While Premier Christy Clark says the carbon tax has had a “disproportionate impact in rural communities.”
She says she lives in Vancouver and has access to alternate forms of transportation, including public transit, which is just not the case for all British Columbians.
While she says the government has little to do with the price of gas at the pumps, governments do collect a lot of taxes that are tacked on to that price. She says that is one of the reasons why the Government has agreed to take a pause on increasing the carbon tax.
Speaking on the Meisner program on CFISFM, Premier Clark asked for listeners to provide their input on the carbon tax “What should we do with the carbon tax, where should we go with it? What changes would they like to make ? It certainly wasn’t perfect when it was brought in.”
She recognizes that B.C. is a leader in climate change issues, “But no one has followed, so we look at where the carbon tax has taken us and there have been all the offsetting taxes, but if there are no followers, it has put us at a real competitive disadvantage for all of our competing businesses if we continue to raise it. So we have to be cautious about that balance that we find.”
She says getting rid of the carbon tax altogether would be very difficult as it was brought in with tax cuts on a number of other areas in an effort to achieve balance. “So what I’m saying is look, we’ve been a leader in climate, and that’s great, we should be proud of that. We’ve got a lot of leadership but not a lot of ‘followship’, so let’s take a pause on it , and see where we’re at, and consult with British Columbians about how we can fix all the parts of the carbon tax that were brought in with good intentions but had unintended consequences.”
Comments
Election coming up. So sorry Christy you’re way too late.
Carbon tax on hold, HST on hold, dealing with teachers on hold……..
“She says getting rid of the carbon tax altogether would be very difficult as it was brought in with tax cuts on a number of other areas in an effort to achieve balance.”
Even if it is “very difficult” to get rid of it – so what? Just get rid of it the same way it was brought in!
Governments are elected to do all things, including and especially the difficult things, that’s why you all (no matter which party!!!) get all the vast salaries in Victoria! The easy things WE can do all by ourselves – we expect YOU to look after the “difficult” stuff!
Get cracking!
Bend over Christy. I would LOVE to show you what to do with your carbon tax.
Whatever happened to, “Tax cuts work.”?
Wasn’t the idea that if we were all left with more income in our pockets to spend as we saw fit the increase in economic activity from greater spending would bring in more government revenues?
Through lower taxes on a greater volume of sales, and as more people were employed there would be more incomes to tax?
Why did the theory fail in practice when it seems to be a reasonably sound theory? What’s missing? What’s been overlooked?
Do you think Christy Clark, or even Adrian Dix or John Cummins, for that matter, really have a clue?
What great choices we have in the upcoming election. Three people, each of whom are going to do the wrong thing, again, (because each thing that any of them propose now has been tried before, sometimes repetitively, and failed). Yet they still expect a different result. And expect us to, too? Can’t we do any better than that?
When she says the carbon tax hasn’t achieved the results that were expected, it has nothing to do with individual taxpayers of this province. This gov’t is in govt for business and not the voting public. Therefore the tax less policy isn’t an option for this govt because the revenue this govt looks at is strictly from a business point of view and an exporting point of view, hence the comment the carbon tax may be putting BC business at a competiveness disadvantage. There is no mentiion that it is adding another burden on an already over burdened, over taxed voting public. Yes, the choices suck. You can either vote for liars and cheats who would sell thier mother if they thought they were helping thier corporate friends or vote for someone who will possibly damage the business climate in BC.
We can do without the carbon tax, we cannot afford to loose the dollars brought in by it, we are running in the red as a province.As far as leaders in climate change? what a joke. It doesn,t matter who you vote for the tax dollars have to come in, we just have to watch they don,t start wasting more money.If the carbon tax was canned with other little taxes and added together it would clean up a lot of buraucracy and save money to the people and goverment(tax payers}
“But on” I couldn’t agree with you more.
One distinction that needs to be emphasised is that all the liberal policies have focussed on the select corporate friends rather than “business” in general. Everyone else is made to pay for these friends success and that success is supposed to carry our economy aka: “Reganomics”.
Even though the economy in California has been a basket case ever since that was introduced there, our liberals (and Canada as a whole) is following that approach. The difference is that Regan was forthright about that plan whereas our liberals have done everything possible to hide/disguise this agenda.
The problem is that this whole economic structure is very hard to reverse once it is in place and a very painfull process to regain the necesary balance…unless we do as Hugo Chavez did and simply boot these controlling corporations from our country.
Dsisybee, that is going a little too far in your comment. Sure you may not like her but throwing a sexual comment like that is a bit innappropiate on this blog.
Christy sez:
“Weâve got a lot of leadership but not a lot of âfollowshipâ, so letâs take a pause on it , and see where weâre at, and consult with British Columbians about how we can fix all the parts of the carbon tax that were brought in with good intentions but had unintended consequences.â
No, Christy we ain’t got a “lot of leadership”. What we’ve got is a lot of bad leadership and it is my experience that people don’t care to follow buffoons. Don’t expect your “followship” to improve any time soon.
“followship”; is that even a word?
I can’t wait for an election so I can see what “followships”. Hopefully it’s unemployment for a lot of buffoons.
Clark is sure smart like grouse to realze that the carbon tax has a greater impact on rural residents. Maybe she thought that we would all just walk in an attempt to avoid this tax. How do we elect such dumb people? Oh wait we did not actually elect her.
Clark is sure smart like grouse to realze that the carbon tax has a greater impact on rural residents. Maybe she thought that we would all just walk in an attempt to avoid this tax. How do we elect such dumb people? Oh wait we did not actually elect her.
Notice that her concern is ‘competitiveness’ of business, not the situation of tax-strapped families or individuals. The solution is clear. Restore Income Tax levels to reasonable amounts, increase the incremental levels of tax on income (the top-out is way too low, given some of the top rates of pay out there), and reduce day-to-day costs so we can spend our money on goods and services rather than sales taxes and user fees. Only this will restore our ability to generate revenue and create jobs. The current strategy of reducing taxes on income and off-loading onto the middle class to placate big business and the wealthy is obviously a failure. Keeping the masses poor and enthralled results in increased costs to Health Care and Social Assistance, and reduced productivity.
Axe this tax now. Don’t tell us how difficult it will be. It was brought in with little dificulty and no electoral mandate. Northern resident concerns were ignored in what is a completely disproportianate tax regime. Campbell and Schwarzenneeger raced to save the planet under the assumption they can change the weather and are then supprised that no one else followed them off the cliff.
By the way who decided that we needed a price on carbon? A tax on something you can’t see, very few people can measure, and we exhale it everyday of our lives. Sound like the perfect scam to me.
I understand that the “carbon tax”is being used to pay the “hidden tolls” on the Sea to Sky Highway. Very expensive piece of road.
“Do you think Christy Clark, or even Adrian Dix or John Cummins, for that matter, really have a clue?”
No, of course not! How about canning the carbon tax and replacing it with a tax on hot air, political hot air! That would eliminate the deficit and start paying down the debt!
All they know is how to pluck the golden goose (the taxpayers) with the least amount of squawking without killing the goose!
” Posted by: DPJ on February 29 2012 9:44 AM
Dsisybee, that is going a little too far in your comment. Sure you may not like her but throwing a sexual comment like that is a bit innappropiate on this blog”
Sexual???
Maybe Chrisy has been doing some reading like this http://icecap.us/index.php/go/political-climate
Are you sure that Christy isn’t just trying to get us to take our eyes off the ball? (HST) Get rid of the HST and the carbon tax was just smoke up her nose.
Affordable energy is the most important aspect of a robust economy… especially an economy of a mostly rural province dependent on resources. Creating an artificial poison pill in the carbon tax to finance corporate and wealthy tax cuts was probably the stupidest move any government could make, but made sense from an insider politicians point of view (knowing who finances their campaigns).
The cost of domestic energy has a direct correlation to a societies standard of living… if the cost goes up, then the only way an economy can compete in a global market place is either to subsidize with lax environmental laws, or through forms of slave labor exploitation. Taxing carbon is only a tough decision by those who don’t have their priorities right.
This is a good move by Christy Clark, but she has a long way to go before she shows she knows whats good for BC, and not just whats good for multinational exporters.
Problem is, even if she does some good things now, what do we expect if she is re-elected for 4 years?
Expect higher carbon taxes, and more corporate tax cut and rebates!
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