Carbon tax

Such is the ubiquity of CNN that I was able to see, quite by chance, Jonathan Mann’s post-Nobel Oslo interview with Al Gore and Rajendra Pauchari, from the northern Ghanaian savanna. Now there is a bleak landscape, already so ravaged by human action that it is already almost the post-apocalyptic climate change scenario predicted for later this century.

Of the many things they said, one stood out: carbon tax. The way it was mentioned it came across as a functional alternative to an income tax. The carbon tax would operate as a consumption tax, a tool appropriate, I think, to the unsustainable use of natural resources driving most economies at the beginning of the 21^st century. There is a lot of hype about the concept of a consumption tax, with many commentators expressing their objection to the idea. Perhaps, were it just a political alternative to current tax systems, and unlinked to the coming carbon crisis, their arguments might hold more weight. Unfortunately, this is just a rich people’s argument. Looking out the window towards the interior of an Africa which has already given them much of that wealth I see no alternative. Starvation is not far away, and a carbon tax is probably the only mechanism whose outcome on consumption could keep it at bay. You can be sure CNN will show Africans their starvation in all its glory. Hello, again, Ethiopia.