Recession is not the time for a carbon tax

THE nation is being conditioned into accepting a carbon tax in the upcoming budget. This should be strongly resisted. While such as tax might be designed to be revenue neutral it will most certainly not be cost neutral from the point of view of the people who will have to pay it.

This fact is of fundamental importance in current circumstances, where every household is struggling to maintain a standard of living. The stated purpose of this tax is to create a disincentive to carbon-generating consumption. It should not be news to its proponents that such a deterrent already exists — it’s called a recession and the one we are in is, despite the fact that levels of prosperity were lower in the past, easily the most traumatic in living memory. This is because of the speed of its onset and the depth of its reach. This tax is therefore redundant at present, and it is nothing short of amazing that it should be contemplated while private sector workers are being laid off at a frightening rate, the public sector has taken to the streets in opposition to pay cuts that go on top of those they have already endured, and the level of financial distress in homes and businesses has reached crisis proportions.

Consideration of a carbon tax should be postponed as a matter of principle until there is a rise in per capita GDP to levels similar to those which pertained prior to the recession.