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Comment by entropi | Hacker News Reader

To me, this seems like the way to reduce the carbon emissions the least, while pissing off the largest possible voter base. Also making the least fortunate suffer the most. Brilliant move, slowly clapping here.

Make a few decisions like this in a few years and voila, you get pissed off masses who won't suffer any more taxes or cancelled bbq dinners for your "libtard agenda" and another Trump-like fellow will rise. Meanwhile no one taxes private jets or yachts for carbon emissions. I guess their costs are not "externalized".

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"no one taxes private jets or yachts for carbon emissions"

Canada does, it has a carbon tax on pretty much everything except fertilizer and heating fuel.

Broad based carbon taxes are the correct solution, but they're also the reason Trudeau is going to lose the next election.

> Can you spot the constituencies that have outsized voting impact?

I suppose people who has to eat and stay warm. I get what you mean, but it still is a good blow-softener in my opinion. Even if farmers get some benefits for no reason.

> Broad based carbon taxes are the correct solution, but they're also the reason Trudeau is going to lose the next election.

Well we are not living in a perfect world. I am not familiar with Canada and Trudeau's political opponents, but still. If a "solution" triggers a kneejerk reaction, cutting its own life short; and causing nutjob demagogues to rise, which leads to much greater harm than it prevented in the first place, how is it the correct solution?

> I suppose people who has to eat and stay warm.

No, it's pretty much a giveaway to Eastern Canada, which is the only part of Canada that uses heating fuel widely. Quebec uses electricity for heating, and the rest of Canada uses natural gas.

The fertilizer exemption is a protectionist measure. Fertilizer production produces massive amounts of carbon. If Canada taxed carbon on domestically produced fertilizer but not on foreign produced fertilizer it'd kill local fertilizer production for little benefit. The right solution is a carbon tariff at the border, but that's really hard to do unilaterally so we have the fertilizer exemption instead.

Nobody's barbecue is going to be cancelled because of this. Meat and animal products are some of the cheapest and most easily available calories you can get here.

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