Exxon Supports A Carbon Tax Because...

A trading program, known as 'cap and trade,' 'inevitably introduces unnecessary cost and complexity' that reduces effectiveness, said [Rex Tillerson, CEO of the Irving, Texas based company]. They require a vast expansion of regulation, he said. A carbon tax 'can be more easily implemented' and is the 'most efficient means of reflecting the cost of carbon...'

'Such a tax should be made revenue neutral,' he said, which requires other taxes to be lowered so that the overall tax burden isn't increased"

But, given our last federal election result, is one still a viable policy option in Canada, or are we stuck with some version of C&T merely because it has the advantage being, in effect, a hidden tax, and thereby palatable to our bovine electorate?

B.C. will be the test case, I imagine. There Campbell introduced the tax between elections rather than trying to run on it, and it seems to me (though I am happy to be corrected) that some of the anger it generated has abated.

And of course there's the Quebec carbon tax, which certainly was not a drag on the Charest government last time around. But of course they're weird and Gallic and, at 0.8 cents per litre, the tax was barely noticeable in the first place.