[pp.int.general] (no subject)

[Gijs Overvliet]

In NL the petrol price (currently EUR 1.80 for 1 liter) is already 70% tax.
For diesel this is 60%, which may have something to do with the fact that
diesel is more efficient.
People are complaining, and reducing their consumption because of that.

Poor people are already being crushed, although I haven't seen reports yet
of people freezing to death because they can't pay the natural gas bills.
That is, in NL, and I expect that to happen within a few years. I think I
have seen those reports in western Europe.

A tax on cows should NOT be based on the cows weight, but be put directly
on beef, milk and leather if at all.

As for choosing one form of renewable energy, don't bet on one horse.
You'll need every watt you can get.

Gijs

2012/7/24 Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org>

>     The same concepts could be applied from the government, tax cars and
>     oil? tax products transportation? educate the people? only allow
>     biodegradable packaging.
>
> These policies can really make a difference.
>
> If a few people buy less of something, the price will go down a little
> and that will encourage others to use more of it.  However, placing a
> tax on it will encourage everyone to use less of it.
>
> It is not practical to tax the actual burning of fossil fuels since
> that is done by millions of motorists as well as thousands of
> factories.  Instead I recommend a tax on fossil fuels, and a few other
> things which, when used, will result in greenhouse gas emissions.  For
> instance, there could be a tax on cows, collected annually based on
> the cow's weight.
>
> This tax implements the principle that the polluter pays the cost
> imposed by the pollution.  As long as this is not the case, there is
> an economic incentive to dump greenhouse gases into the air and let
> others suffer the harm.  Users influenced by that incentive are not
> interested in investing in increased efficiency of their own
> operations.
>
> If the tax rate starts from zero and rises gradually over a period
> of a few years, that will avoid transients.
>
> Part of the tax money could be given back to every person equally, so
> that poor people would not be crushed by the added tax.  Poor people
> would, however, feel the pressure to conserve on fuel; those that do
> will have more money than before.  Those that are profligate with fuel
> will have somewhat less than before, until they learn to conserve.
>
> This tax will encourage all forms of renewable energy, but they will
> still compete with each other.  Thus, the state won't need to choose
> between solar panels and solar thermal power (and other methods); the
> market will choose.
>
> A feed-in tariff, allowing everyone to sell electricity to the grid,
> is a good policy too.  But that alone won't do the job.  It won't
> affect emissions from transportation, for example.
>
> Educating the public about global heating is essential so that they
> will understand the need for action; however, that alone won't
> deal with the problem.
>
>
>
> --
> Dr Richard Stallman
> President, Free Software Foundation
> 51 Franklin St
> Boston MA 02110
> USA
> www.fsf.org  www.gnu.org
> Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
>   Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call
> ____________________________________________________
> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
> http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.pirateweb.net/pipermail/pp.international.general/attachments/20120724/78b294d3/attachment.html>