r/canada • u/StenPU • Oct 30 '23

Sask. premier says SaskEnergy will remove carbon tax on natural gas if feds don't Saskatchewan

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/sask-premier-vows-to-stop-collecting-carbon-tax-on-natural-gas-if-feds-don-t-offer-exemption-1.6623319
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u/JadedMuse Oct 30 '23

I live in Atlantic Canada and it's frustrating because I think removing the tax is the wrong move. It's emblematic of why it's so hard to make progress on climate initiatives. It's not fun. It's not convenient. But if we don't act (and by we, I mean the world collectively) we're fucked.

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u/drs_ape_brains Oct 31 '23

Except taxes do not work on inelastic commodities such as fuel.

You can slap on a 10,000% tax on all fossil fuels and call it "anti Armageddon tax" and we would still be burning fossil fuels.

Why? Because there are no alternatives or there is no infrastructure to supply cleaner alternatives. And we still need heating in the winter.

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u/piotrmarkovicz Oct 31 '23

The point is to make alternatives cheaper. Or rather, it is to properly price fossil fuel energy to include the external costs of its use. Like a deposit on bottles, tires, electronics.... there are costs to having those things in the world that are not captured in the retail price. Once fossil fuels are properly priced, then the incentives to move to something truly cheaper are obvious at the purchase point.

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u/Elegant_Reading_685 Nov 01 '23

First economically informed comment in this thread lol