Target: Kevin Falcon, British Columbia Minister of Finance
Goal: Urge British Columbia to ignore economic pressure from industries and keep tax on carbon emissions.
British Columbia pioneered policies to combat climate change, including a tax on carbon emissions. However, the province is now rethinking the carbon tax because of economic pressure from the industries that pay it.
British Columbia gets over 80 percent of its power from hydroelectricity, which does not produce carbon. The main source of carbon emissions is from the transportation industry. The BC government estimated that this tax saved over three million metric tons of carbon each year, the equivalent of removing 800,000 cars from the road. Additionally, the tax was designed to be revenue-neutral, and the money gained from this tax translated to tax cuts in other areas.
The industries that are against this tax claim they are at a disadvantage in the global market because of the tax. However, the government has given grants to the agriculture industry in order to compensate for the tax. The tax has proven to be beneficial in challenging climate change as well as providing tax cuts to the citizens of the province. Therefore, ridding the province of the tax will dispose of these benefits, solely for the profit of industries.
Dear Minister Falcon,
Soon, the British Columbia tax on carbon emissions will be reviewed. There is economic pressure from industries that produce a lot of carbon to repeal this tax. These industries ask for the repeal of the tax despite assistance provided to them as compensation for the tax.
I ask you to keep the carbon tax. It has proven beneficial to the environment. Additionally, it comes at no extra cost to the citizens of British Columbia, because of the tax cuts in other areas. The industries asking for the tax to be repealed are asking from an economic standpoint, but the benefit that this tax has had on the environment should not be ignored solely because of economic pressure.
[Your Name Here]