quote:And numerous industries won exemptions from the tax, carrying on unchanged.

As does "cap and trade". Cap and trade merely sytemitizes the exemptions as a pseudo-commodities market, and shifts the burden to the have-nots in the rest of the world. Does we really need to turn the environment into a commodity in order to save it?

In anycase, rather than talking points discussions based in defending "cap and trade" against "carbon tax" you should really be thinking about possible other ways of framing the issue, so that you can create effective means of controlling CO2 emmission, and doing something to shift the burden onto those who most benefit from the expensive luxury lifestyles that a huge amount of our waste products are aimed at sustaining.

Hint: Move away from dubious market mechanisms as the primary lever of controlling co2 emissions. Even politically, "cap and trade" really did not do anything for the NDP. Therefore, there is no reason to be wedded to it, nor is it necessarily the case that carbon tax will sell any better, for the reasons it has been pointed out.

[ 30 October 2008: Message edited by: Cueball ]