Carbon taxes - stimulate THIS!!!!

This is a rant....you've been warned.

Hot on the heels of the US economic stimulus rebates, the British Columbia government announced that it will be giving every British Columbian - man, woman, and child, a one-time $100 "Climate Action Dividend" just prior to implementing their new carbon taxation scheme.

Spearheaded by B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor, the dividend is being funded by last year's fiscal surplus, and Taylor hopes people will spend the money on reducing their greenhouse gases, and implementing "environmentally friendly" behavior (like buying a bus pass, weather stripping, or CFL's.)

The carbon tax will be charged at the rate of $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions, for gasoline and home-heating fuel, and kicks off July 1.

Joy.

We're already paying $1.45/liter for gasoline here in Nanaimo, ($5.49/gallon for you US readers,) and its just going to keep going up, THEN you add the new carbon tax on top of all the taxes we already pay(7% provincial, 5% GST) ....will it ever end?

So, they're giving us back $100 of our own money, then raising the taxes to get it back...(Taylor estimates the average British Columbian will end up spending $60/year.) As my Mother put it, "Its like winning $2 on a $10 lottery ticket."

When you consider that so many people still argue that "Climate Change/Global Warming" is nothing but hype (check out kokonut pundit's blog for EXCELLENT discourse on this subject here, here and also here )

Those that promote global warming and tell everyone who doesn't believe them to shut up, should read a little bit. Not 20 years ago, in 1974, TIME magazine warned of a coming ice age.

"In ten years all important animal life in the sea will be extinct. Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated because of the stench of dead fish." -- Paul Ehrlich, Earth Day (1970)

Heck even MARS is undergoing global warming....no humans there, but yet in the face of all this they are still using global warming and environmental "carbon taxes" to take more money out of our pockets.

If they REALLY wanted to do something about the environment, they'd do away with the stupid tax and use the money that is being spent on this "dividend cheque" (approx $440 million - and another $10 million to print and deliver them,) on incentives for developing greener energy, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, building more fuel efficient vehicles, etc.

Its just more of the same..they give us a little incentive, then reach in our back pocket and take out MORE than they gave us (again of our own money.) Its like how the Canadian government reduced the Goods and Services (GST) tax by one percent in July, 2006, then turned around and raised income taxes to offset the GST cut!!! So instead of paying SOME taxes on goods and services (which I can pick and chose) I end up paying a blanket tax on my income which gets the government MORE money in the long run.

Its enough to make your head spin.

So what are YOU going to do with your $100? At the rate things are going, by the time I get my cheque I might be able to buy a liter of gas.