Carbon Tax Pros and Cons List

Taxes are something that people usually don’t even want to talk about anymore. They just know that taxes mean they have to pay something for some reason and as such they are done with the topic. We can’t be done, however, with carbon taxes since we need to understand that pollution is a negative thing and the topic needs to be understood.

Essentially, carbon tax aims to make corporations pay for the amount of carbon they produce and send to the atmosphere. This will give the responsibility for the amount of carbon and pollution but this has a social and an environmental impact on our society. To understand the issue a little better, let’s look at the pros and cons.

List of Pros of Carbon Tax

1. Reduction of Carbon Dioxide
The big advantage of the carbon tax is that it will reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide. By charging companies for their emissions of carbon dioxide, they will start emitting more since this is going to damage the amount of profit that they make at the end of the year. This is the best way to cut down on the production of carbon dioxide.

2. Pushes Companies Towards Innovation
If a company is losing money by producing carbon dioxide, this is going to push the company into acquiring an alternative that won’t be taxed as hard as carbon dioxide in order to protect their financial interests. Alternatives to carbon dioxide are going to mean technological advances as a species and a bigger protection for our planet.

3. Increases Revenues
By taxing the production of carbon dioxide, the government is going to be able to tap a source of income that wasn’t explored before. Essentially, money is going to be charged to corporations by the government, which will allow advances in society due to the increased revenue.

List of Cons of Carbon Tax

1. Corporations Can Relocate
If a company is charged for the production of carbon dioxide in an area and isn’t charged in the other area, than the corporation is going to move to the second area. This will damage the economy of the first area and, on top of that, it is going to create a loss of jobs. Instead of helping our economy, this would damage it severely.

2. Taxing is Expensive
To implement and to ensure a carbon tax would be incredibly expensive. In order to make this a reality the government would need a lot more funds so that the tax could be implemented and enforced.

3. Secrecy Might Occur
A company might still be producing carbon dioxide even if the tax is in place. What the government doesn’t know, the government won’t charge for. History tells us that companies see no problem in lying.