Comment by barry-cotter | Hacker News Reader

Comment by barry-cotter | Hacker News Reader

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Carbon taxes have been passed and revoked in Australia, Canada and France. They have been rejected in ballots twice in Washington. It’s not a right wing thing. People just really hate taxes and don’t want to change their behaviour. Talk is cheap.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09112016/washington-state...

> Washington State Voters Reject Nation's First Carbon Tax

> The measure was unpopular with social justice groups and divided environmental activists, many arguing it did not go far enough in promoting clean energy.

> Among those who decided not to support the carbon tax were Sierra Club, the Washington Environmental Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Climate Solutions, and 350Seattle.org.

https://crosscut.com/2018/11/washington-voters-reject-carbon...

> Washington voters reject carbon fees for second time

This hasn't been passed and revoked in Canada.

The Carbon tax has been rejected by some provinces but the federal government is still moving ahead with it and they have the constitutional right to do.

You’re correct. I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the tax being imposed and lasting though.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/02/justin-trudeau...

> Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, has repeatedly called carbon pricing “the worst tax ever” and at least five provinces have banded together to fight the tax in the courts, a battle legal experts believe they will lose.

> Along with their provincial counterparts, the federal Conservatives have pledged to repeal any carbon taxes, with Scheer dismissing the policy as an “election gimmick”. This fight comes amid reports that Canada is not on pace to meet its 2030 climate goals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax

> In the 2008 Canadian federal election, a carbon tax proposed by Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion, known as the Green Shift, became a central issue in the campaign. It would have been revenue-neutral, with increased taxation on carbon being balanced by tax cuts for individual citizens. However, it proved to be unpopular and contributed to the defeat of Liberal Party with its worst share of the popular vote since Confederation.

... revoked in Australia after the right wing party spent years demonising the "great big new tax." The government had used the income from it to compensate consumers for price increases passed onto them, so the majority of voters arguably had no real reason to hate it, other than partisan politics.

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