Even Liberals oppose the "Green Shaft"
How's this for a Liberal of Liberals? Former interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham asked one simple question the other day, which exposes the main problem with Dion's new carbon tax plan... "What does revenue-neutral mean? It sounds nice when you say it, but it will create winners and losers. Who's going to win, who's going to lose and who's going to pay?"
Will you be a winner? Or will you be a loser? One thing that I read yesterday, that no one seems to be making any hay about, is the fact that costs to produce electricity here in Ontario stand to increase by up to 20%... 20%!!!
So who will that impact the most? The poor, who typically are forced to live in older rental units, which are often than not heated with electric baseboard heating. Or who have older non-energy efficient appliances, and who don't have the money to upgrade them. It's the poor who will likely end up paying through the nose with this plan. Sure, Mr. Dion says they'll be given breaks at tax time, but how's that supposed to help them pay the bills through the rest of the year?
Clearly, this was not a well thought out plan. Sure, it tickles the ears of the young and well off "MTV" crowd, (in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) who say that we need to adopt this plan to "protect the planet"... when they stand to lose the least from this awful "Green Shaft".
But what about everyone else, people like you and me? Mr. Dion says that there will be incentives for rural Canadians, so they won't feel as much pain as the rest of us. But who's going to feel the pinch? I'll tell you who... homeowners in the 519 and the 905, and the southern reigions of the 705, for a start. People who are trying to keep up with their mortgages, who have two cars so they can both get to work, who married later in life so they only have one or two children (and thus fewer tax breaks), and loads of student debt they're still trying to pay off. Suburbia will be the ones to feel the pain, because it's almost every facet of their lifestyle that this plan is targeting.
But you know what? That's just fine by me... a few more seats for us in the 905 will ensure that this plan doesn't ever see the light of day in the House.
Will you be a winner? Or will you be a loser? One thing that I read yesterday, that no one seems to be making any hay about, is the fact that costs to produce electricity here in Ontario stand to increase by up to 20%... 20%!!!
So who will that impact the most? The poor, who typically are forced to live in older rental units, which are often than not heated with electric baseboard heating. Or who have older non-energy efficient appliances, and who don't have the money to upgrade them. It's the poor who will likely end up paying through the nose with this plan. Sure, Mr. Dion says they'll be given breaks at tax time, but how's that supposed to help them pay the bills through the rest of the year?
Clearly, this was not a well thought out plan. Sure, it tickles the ears of the young and well off "MTV" crowd, (in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) who say that we need to adopt this plan to "protect the planet"... when they stand to lose the least from this awful "Green Shaft".
But what about everyone else, people like you and me? Mr. Dion says that there will be incentives for rural Canadians, so they won't feel as much pain as the rest of us. But who's going to feel the pinch? I'll tell you who... homeowners in the 519 and the 905, and the southern reigions of the 705, for a start. People who are trying to keep up with their mortgages, who have two cars so they can both get to work, who married later in life so they only have one or two children (and thus fewer tax breaks), and loads of student debt they're still trying to pay off. Suburbia will be the ones to feel the pain, because it's almost every facet of their lifestyle that this plan is targeting.
But you know what? That's just fine by me... a few more seats for us in the 905 will ensure that this plan doesn't ever see the light of day in the House.
Labels: Dion, Liberals, Not a Leader
posted by Christian Conservative @ 9:38 a.m.
4 Comments:
At Wed Jun 25, 11:38:00 a.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
The Red Star looks like it's getting ready to slam Green Shift. The ed cartoon on Tuesday has three panels. In the first Steffi is dressed as a magician holding a bunny called "Taxes". The next panel just has the word "poof" and the last panel shows the rabbit still there but Dion has disappeared.
Coral Goar makes it abundantly clear that this is just a tax to pay for Dion's grandiose socialist plans under cover of saving the planet.
At Wed Jun 25, 12:04:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
By the time Canadians get to the polls, in late December of this year or early in 2009, (That's if the Liberals find the backone to bring down the government)much of the drastic increase in petroleum prices will have worked its way through the economy. Home heating fuel and electricity costs will have increased dramatically, food costs will be higher, and transportation costs will have risen sharply. The last thing most people will be willing to entertain is another big hit to their wallets.
At Wed Jun 25, 12:32:00 p.m. EDT,
rabbit said…
Dion was faced with a problem. He had to come up with a plan that simultaneously:
- Instituted a carbon tax.
- Increased revenues for social programs such as national day care and a "war on poverty".
- Tapped western oil wealth and higher-income Canadians to pay for these programs.
- All the while plausibly denying that he would increase taxes.
The Green Shift plan fit the bill beautifully. Well done, Dion!
At Tue Jul 01, 11:13:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
I was doing some (read minimal) research on what the overhead is on administering a new tax. Estimates for administering the GST vary between one-third and one-fifth the revenue the tax brings in. Assuming that Dion's new tax is about the same I can't figure out haw it could ever be revenue neutral. Either the government is going to have to take a hit on revenue in order for the shift to be neutral for tax payers or tax payers are going to have their taxes increased in order to keep the government after-administration income neutral.
Am I missing something?
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