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[saffronlie]

This excellent piece by Geoff Lemon has been doing the rounds, dispensing the sober truth: almost no one is going to be affected by Australia's new carbon tax. $9.90 extra week will break almost no one's bank

Comments

[ozfille]

I think Australians have become greedier and more materialistic as we have grown wealthier .The 12 years of Howard with his middle class welfare handouts to those who didn't need them, the pandering to racist sentiment against foreigners for electoral advantage and the shocking levels of deceit practised by his Government have made the people nastier, greedier and more distrustful of politicians. So anything that is put up by politicians if it involves even the hint of a cost to the hip pocket engenders almost pathological bouts of rage among those who feel hard done by and there are a lot of those. The Mad Monk and his minions in the media - Murdoch and the the Parrott and fellow shock jocks don't help much . They keep on fanning the flames of intolerance, fear and hatred higher and higher

[pandorasblog]

It's amazing the vitriol of affluent people's reactions when asked to make a more-than-affordable contribution that helps society/the planet as a whole. Reminds me of what happened when the tax rate for people earning £50K+ was comparably increased. You'd think they were being put out on the street to sell matches.

I've been thinking about carbon taxing because of a YA novel. Last week I read The Carbon Diaries: 2015 by Saci Lloyd. It's a vision of a near-future UK that has pioneered a monthly carbon ration. Everything that uses carbon comes out of that: electrical appliances, fuel, travel; carbon is also costed into every manufactured/transported item. When your ration is used up, you'll be walking or cycling to college rather than taking the bus, and it's goodbye to hot showers, internet time, etc