At 12:22 PM 7/17/01 +0200 Baardwijk, J. van DTO/SLBD/BGM/SVM/SGM wrote:
>A wonderful case of real life not conforming to theory. In addition to
>public-awareness campaigns, the Dutch government did put an Eco-tax on
>energy. However, I have not yet seen any evidence that Dutch households use
>less energy because of it.
Which, I am guessing, is probably because you haven't seen *any* evidence,
one way or the other, right?
>That's not the aim of the campaigns and the Eco-tax. The purpose of the
>entire exercise is not to tell people they must compensate for the damage
>they do, the purpose is to get people to use less energy because it's better
>for the environment.
That's silly..... How did the government settle on the size of the tax?
After all, a $10 - gallon tax on gasoline would certainly reduce energy
consumption, but that would be all out of whack with the damage that
burning a gallon of gasoline actually does to the environment.
>The whole idea is that it's better to prevent damage, than to do damage
>first and repair it later.
>
>When you park your car, do you try not to bump into an other car, or do you
>bump it into that other car and have the damage repaired later?
Well, if someone bumped my car and did $100 of damage, and I valued my time
at $50 in lost time to repair it, and the guy who bumped my car was ordered
to pay me $200, I wouldn't mind so much.
Same principle.
Thus, tax gasoline in terms of the actual costs it puts on society and use
it to cut income taxes in order to fuel economic growth - which makes
everyone happier, and even more environmentally-conscious.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
We are products of the same history, reaching from Jerusalem and
Athens to Warsaw and Washington. We share more than an alliance.
We share a civilization. - George W. Bush, Warsaw, 06/15/01
