I’m going to write about today’s Chantal Hebert column without taking potshots at her, because she’s actually talking about Dion without taking potshots at him - a rarity since Dion has become leader of the Liberals.
What I’m going to focus on from her column is whether Dion should make a carbon tax a key policy plank in the Liberals campaign or not, and that he needs to decide soon. I do agree with that; if we’re not going to have an election this June (and many of us, even those who are election hawks, are increasingly resigned to that), and Dion is going to go on a summer tour with key Liberals, then this policy needs to be pushed up front and centre and he and his spokespersons and surrogates are going to need to be out there on the circuit explaining what a carbon tax entails, and more specifically what it does NOT entail.
If Dion and the Liberals let this policy sit without proper explanation, that is what you’re going to see from the Conservatives - trying to equate it to a “gasoline tax”, when it is nothing of the sort. There will not be a direct raise of gasoline prices because of any carbon tax implemented, and it will also involve lowering taxes in other areas; what is known as a tax shift. But Ms. Hebert is correct when she says policy nuances like this get lost in the middle of an election campaign.
Start promoting it and explaining it now, or risk losing the spin war. Choose BC and Quebec as the first 2 places to do the explaining too; both have implemented versions of it, both (if Ms. Hebert is accurate) have been well received there, and both are provinces where the Liberals have to win additional seats to win government. I can’t think of 2 better provinces to start talking about this carbon tax proposal.
Whooee! Well Scotty, since the Grits are talking about adopting the Green Party’s long held tax shifting policy, your guys may as well use our explanations, too.
From Vision Green:
The single most significant government policy tool to advance or retard economic sustainability resides in the fiscal framework.
The Green Party commitment to Green tax-shifting will:
* Reduce income taxes;
* Reduce payroll taxes; and,
* Introduce a carbon tax, sending a clear economic signal that wasting energy and resources implies real costs.
The Green Party will also eliminate large corporate subsidies and grants programmes.
It makes no sense to subsidize the wealthiest companies on earth to make the world’s most profitable product — a barrel of oil. These perverse subsidies must be removed. It makes sense to reduce taxes on things we want – income and employment – while increasing taxes on things we do not want, like greenhouse gases and pollution that causes smog.
Canadian businesses want two things from their government: predictability and policy coherence. The Green Party government will ensure that the rules are clear, the playing field is level and decision-making is transparent.
Our fiscal plan is straightforward: Use the tax system to help meet societal and ecological goals. Get the prices right. Allow business to pursue profit, with clear signals of environmental and societal objectives.
Key societal goals:
* Ensure Canadians have more time for friends, family and community engagement.
* Send the right price signals to the economy. The days of cheap, abundant energy are over. A carbon tax will send that signal and generate the revenue to cut income taxes, allow “income splitting” and fund the anti-poverty policies outlined later in Vision Green.
* Eliminate perverse corporate subsidies. No more “corporate welfare bums.” No more unpaid “loans” to government granting agencies.
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Here’s the anti-carbon tax argument that you’ll need to counter:
Reducing income tax while imposing a carbon tax means that an urban apartment dweller making $600,000 a year will get his taxes reduced while a poor, rural, senior citizen who has no access to public transit gets walloped with unbearably high gasoline and home heating costs.
Be ready to counter that one.
JB