10-13-2009, 12:45 PM
Quote:Breathing is a smaller problem compared to the carbon footprint of the breather, especially if they are prone to drive SUV's and travel by airplane. I don't see a tax per breath, but rather a tax per breather.Tax carbon emissions directly, you get the incentives perfectly lined up - use less carbon, pay less taxes. If you tax per "breather", you're taxing them for existing (which they are unlikely to stop doing), but not in any way giving them an incentive to burn less carbon. Failure to adjust the marginal values equals failure to deal with the problem.
-Jester