New BC Carbon Tax in effect

[Mr. Analog]

The idea of a hidden Olympics tax would really burn my biscuits though, the Olympics is a huge waste of money and is probably one of the most corrupt organizations ever, but I digress...

Umm...  How about the Soviet-installed puppet regimes in Eastern Europe?  I'd say those were hugely more corrupt than the IOC.

The funny thing about carbon taxing is that there are examples where it worked.  England, for example, has long had high taxes on fuel and much of that money got spent on better transit systems.  The key differences between England's taxation and BC's new carbon tax are that England charged *way more* and at the same time created a *viable alternative*.

I dunno man, the IOC executive has outlived all those regimes, throws potential revenue around to morally bankrupt nations and promotes Nationalistic chest-pounding. It's like the perfect venue for people like Goebbels, and that's frickin' scary.

As for England, I'm pretty sure they had a fairly solid transit infrastructure from the get go. British rail was fairly embedded for commuting all around the UK until the 60s/70s but it made a return when the carbon tax was introduced. The transit infrastructure of large centres like London weren't just a good idea, they were necessary to live there (like New York or Tokyo).

I would love to see a proliferation in transit infrastructure in North America but I don't think it really addresses the problem we have with emissions. I mean, if I could LRT it to a bullet train and go work in Ft. Mac I'm still going to be contributing to harmful greenhouse gas emission.

I think changing fuels will have a much bigger impact on the atmosphere than simply curbing how much we dump into it.

But that's just me.