PeakOil is You
wherein lies the hope?
Re: wherein lies the hope?
by careinke » Fri 28 Oct 2016, 05:04:20
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'Y')es, I agree. Funny how this seems somewhat analogous to the US political landscape. I mean in the sense that the Republicans embody a sort of selfish attitude given their reluctance to pay taxes, their advocacy of libertarian values or the virtue of individual freedoms and a keen defense of the capitalistic profit incentive. With Democrats at least in principle diametrically opposed to some of this
I can't figure out either party these days. For example:
On the Washington state ballot this year is Initiative I-732. It is a revenue neutral carbon tax.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ere are the four pillars of our policy proposal:
Reduce the state sales tax by one full percentage point.
Fund the Working Families Rebate to provide up to $1500 a year for 400,000 low-income working households.
Effectively eliminate the B&O business tax for manufacturers.
Institute a carbon tax of $25 per metric ton CO2 on fossil fuels consumed in the state of Washington.
Here is our legal language and here are some details:
This tax swap will take place over two years, with the sales tax reduction divided in two (a half-percentage-point reduction in each year) and the carbon tax phasing in from $15 per ton in the first year to $25 per ton in the second year and then increasing thereafter at 3.5% plus inflation (up to a maximum of $100 in 2016 dollars) in order to maintain revenue neutrality. The Working Families Rebate will phase in from 15% of the federal EITC in the first year to 25% of the federal EITC in the second year and beyond. The effective elimination of the B&O tax for manufacturers appears in full in the first year.
After the two-year phase-in, the value of the reduced sales and business taxes will grow at approximately 1.5% per year plus inflation (about 2%), and we expect carbon emissions to decline by about 2% per year, so after the two-year phase-in the carbon tax rate increases by 3.5% per year plus inflation in order to maintain revenue neutrality. That rate of increase means that it will take more than 40 years for the inflation-adjusted rate to hit the maximum rate of $100 per ton in 2016 dollars. More details here.
The carbon tax will cover the carbon content of imported electricity (through reports similar to Fuel Mix Disclosure reports), but otherwise it will focus only on fossil fuels consumed in the state of Washington. (See section 4 of the legal language.)
There is an exemption for sequestered CO2 and there will be a 40-year phase-in for farm diesel and for public transportation systems. (See section 5 of the legal language as well as section 4(6).) Farm diesel amounts to about 52m gallons of diesel (from EIA). Public transportation systems amount to about 40m gallons of diesel and 4m gallons of motor gasoline (from NTD Table 17), including about 17m gallons from ferries (see also WSDOT), about 11m gallons for King County Metro (see also here), and about 12m gallons from other systems. So the total phase-in amount here is about 100m gallons, which is about 2% of state CO2 emissions and small compared to total state consumption of 962m gallons a year of distillate and 2.6 billion gallons a year of motor gasoline. Note that farm diesel and public transportation systems are already exempt from the existing fuel tax; see pages 76-80 (Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax, Chapter 82.36 RCW) and pages 81-83 (Special Fuel Tax, Chapters 82.38 and 70.149 RCW) of the 2010 Tax Reference Manual. Also note that farms and public transportation systems would save money in sales taxes, e.g., King County Metro pays state sales tax on the $100m/year it spends buying buses.
The Working Families Rebate, which was created in 2008 but never funded, is modeled after similar programs that exist in 22 other states. Like most of these programs, the Working Families Rebate is a bump-up of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit; the 25% bump-up for Washington State comes in the form of a sales tax exemption. (See section 15 of the legal language.)
The total value of this tax swap is about $1.7 billion annually:
A one-percentage-point reduction in the state sales tax will save taxpayers about $1.3 billion annually; funding the Working Families rebate at a 25% level will provide tax rebate of about $200m annually; eliminating the B&O tax for manufacturing will save taxpayers about $200m annually. This all adds up to $1.7 billion in annual taxpayer benefits.
CO2 emissions from fossil fuels total about 83m metric tons per year, so with coverage of 90% of those emissions and an expected immediate reduction of about 10% as a result of the carbon tax you get $1.7 billion in carbon tax revenue annually.
For context, $1.7 billion is about 10% of the tax revenue generated by the state of Washington annually.
A recent piece of economics research about the impact of carbon pricing on households and manufacturing is “Who Pays a Price on Carbon” by Corbett Grainger and Charles Kolstad (Environment and Resource Economics, 2010). See Table 2 (p365) for the percentage cost increase for different industries from a tax of $15 per ton CO2, and BTW here’s the CMU input-output model they use.
http://yeson732.org/plain-language/
You would think the Democrats would be all over this. In reality, the Democrats are against it and the republicans are backing it. Go figure.
Full disclosure. I fully back this, if passed Washington State will set a great example with it's stance on climate change.
Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)
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careinke - Volunteer
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Re: wherein lies the hope?
by onlooker » Fri 28 Oct 2016, 10:18:46
Continuing this interesting line of thought, I thought I would include this video which ties into what you are saying Care about the way to live a just life. It certainly now appears to me quite evident that Government is an obstruction and hindrance to achieving some sort of harmonious society in the future as history has already proven. Government in the form of a few people and their subordinates and enforcers simply co-opts authority and that authority is abused to initiate and commit immoral acts and codes such as the tax code and wars waged in the name of the people. So to truly allow morality to reign governments must be abolished as they can never be instrument to achieve a harmonious and virtuous society. here is link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd-f6lE2LZU
"We are mortal beings doomed to die
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Re: wherein lies the hope?
by Subjectivist » Fri 28 Oct 2016, 11:13:53
I actually saw one of the Democrat activists who oppose the measure interviewed. His opposition was because the law is revenue neutral instead of increasing taxes and paying for additional government spending! The fact that it is good for the environment was not at all important to him, he wanted more tax money period.
II Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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Re: wherein lies the hope?
by Subjectivist » Wed 09 Nov 2016, 12:56:45
Wow, the carbon tax proposal went down to a resounding defeat!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')easure 732 · Imposes a carbon emission tax on fossil fuels, reduces sales taxes 1% and increases a low-income exemption, and reduces certain manufacturing taxes.
Yes 41%. 793,970
No 59%. 1,120,079
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')easure 732 · Imposes a carbon emission tax on fossil fuels, reduces sales taxes 1% and increases a low-income exemption, and reduces certain manufacturing taxes.
Yes 41%. 793,970
No 59%. 1,120,079
II Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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Re: wherein lies the hope?
by Cog » Wed 09 Nov 2016, 13:14:50
Progressives love to tax those evil corporations. Themselves not so much.
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Re: wherein lies the hope?
by careinke » Wed 09 Nov 2016, 14:04:29
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'P')rogressives love to tax those evil corporations. Themselves not so much.
Yes lets save the planet, but why pay for it, that's someone else's responsibility! I am disheartened by this vote to say the least.
Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)
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