Reject the Cap-N-Tax Scheme
Please spread this around widely.
20th June 2009
An Open Letter to All Members of Parliament
From the Carbon Sense Coalition
Soon our elected representatives will be asked to vote on Senator Wong’s
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
This scheme is not about carbon or pollution. It main effect is to provide
for a cap on the human production of carbon dioxide, a colourless harmless
natural gas. Carbon dioxide is no more a pollutant than oxygen or water, the
other two atmospheric gases on which all life on earth relies.
The bill will also levy a tax on whatever carbon dioxide is produced, and
levy an excess production tax on anyone whose production exceeds the legal
cap. It is a carbon dioxide Cap-n-Tax Bill.
There is no human activity whatsoever that does not generate carbon dioxide.
Therefore any attempt to measure, cap and tax human production of carbon dioxide
must eventually extend to every human activity (the UK government already
floated the idea that every person be issued with a personal carbon ration
card).
This is a very serious proposal, with wide-ranging implications for all
aspects of economic life and personal freedoms. It could only be justified
if there was a clear and urgent danger that additional human production of
carbon dioxide is highly likely to cause dangerous global warming. There
is no evidence that this is the case.
Neither the scientific questions, nor the cost benefit analysis has been
subject to any critical independent analysis.
The diagram below illustrates the sequence of decisions that should be made
before this bill gets assent. If the answer to ANY ONE of the boxed questions
is “NO”, there is no justification for Australia rushing ahead with its Cap-n-Tax
Bill.
.
.
This diagram, although light-hearted, has a factual basis and conveys some
very serious messages.
It is highly unlikely that anyone could honestly answer “Yes” to every question,
which is what is required to justify passage of the bill. This shows that
there is a high likelihood that the bill will have NO CLIMATE EFFECT WHATSOEVER
and thus a costly exercise in self delusion.
Our strong recommendation is that the Parliament rejects this bill entirely.
Viv Forbes
Chairman
The Carbon Sense Coalition
MS 23 Rosewood Qld Australia
info@carbon-sense.com
www.carbon-sense.com