[pp.int.general] (no subject)

[Alexandre Oliva]

On Aug 12, 2012, Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org> wrote:

>     I'm concerned that taxing certain kinds of energy sources without
>     sufficient, let's say,  market freedom  (i.e., oligopolies, price
>     fixing, etc) may not have the effect of driving people away from the
>     taxed goods, but instead just raise the prices of the sustainable
>     alternatives so that the comparative efficiency ratio remains at the
>     same equilibrium as before.

> Even if this happens, it is still useful -- people will arrange
> to use less fuel of whatever kind.

However, if the tax reimbursement for the poor that you proposed is
given only for the unsustainable fuels, as the prices of all fuels raise
this reimbursment will effectively become an incentive for the use of
unsustainable fuels by the majority of the population, that's in the
poorer layers of the economic pyramid.  Surely that's not the intended
outcome.

Of course, it is more likely that the new equilibrium will be achieved
taking the reimbursement into account, so it won't affect a majority of
the population, and serve as an incentive for sustainable fuels only
among the richer layers.  That's good, but is it going to be enough, and
worth all the effort?

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, freedom fighter    http://FSFLA.org/~lxoliva/
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Gandhi
Be Free! -- http://FSFLA.org/   FSF Latin America board member
Free Software Evangelist      Red Hat Brazil Compiler Engineer