Comment by michpoch
2 days ago
> since on average richer people will spend more on fuel
Why would you think so? People driving older cars, not being able to afford to fly - will certainly spend more money on fuel for their car.
2 days ago
> since on average richer people will spend more on fuel
Why would you think so? People driving older cars, not being able to afford to fly - will certainly spend more money on fuel for their car.
Rich people use more energy. That’s been shown by loads of studies.
Maybe they drive a more efficient car, but they own much larger houses which are heated or cooled consistently, they travel a lot more, and they buy things with embodied carbon emissions.
Right, but now you're talking about adding the tax to the whole economy, not just car fuel?
That's close to impossible to implement. You'd need to track production and usage of everything in an extreme detail. Plus tracking all purchases (items + services) to a given person. So complete state surveillance of citizens. Globally.
> That's close to impossible to implement.
For a carbon tax, I think you only need to track imports, and domestic extraction of coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
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Tax all fuel. So those energy consumption of wealthy cost more?
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Do you think flying evades the carbon tax?
Yes, if you apply the carbon tax only for the fuel at petrol stations. I am talking about realistic-to-implement solutions.
Aviation fuel is dispensed at a limited number of places; it would be easier (or just as easy) to implement a higher aviation fuel tax than a higher auto fuel tax.
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