POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Letters to the Editor and other People Speak

FROM-UK Independent

Carbon tax won't change anything

It is time for people to sit up and take note of what the Greens in Government are proposing.

They want us to cough up for an additional carbon tax on top of the existing punitive excise duties and tax we are already paying -- which are among the highest in Europe and the world.

At the same time there is a cry that we must reduce costs and become more competitive.

The Greens are proposing the introduction of this tax in the next Budget as their demand to continue supporting the Government for what is purportedly an important target in an effort to reduce Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions.

Let's put these same greenhouse gas emissions into perspective.

Our total CO2 emissions represent less than 0.2pc of global CO2 emissions.

The CO2 emissions directly associated with road transport are less than 0.05pc of total global emissions.

Every week the Chinese construct a new coal-fired power plant with an average 50-year lifespan that produces the equivalent of our road transport CO2 emissions in one month.

If the Greens achieved their objective and eliminated all of Ireland's CO2 emissions overnight, its overall impact on global CO2 emissions would be negligible.

The proposal is preposterous, at a time of unprecedented economic downturn and massive unemployment, with our economy in absolute ruins.

Who in their right mind could give credence to any party that would countenance such a ridiculous proposal?

The Greens' proposal to introduce a carbon tax is to assuage a small, elite minority.

It cannot achieve a meaningful reduction of greenhouse gases but its imposition will add more misery to 85pc of the travelling public and a further unnecessary burden on businesses already struggling to compete with countries that continue to have much lower taxes on their transport fuel.

Des Quinn
Ballinamore,

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