Solar and Wind Power So Cheap They’re Outgrowing Subsidies

Re:Solar and Wind Power So Cheap They’re Outgrowing Subsidies by darksaints on Thursday September 19, 2019 @11:19AM (#21017015)

Canada is doing it the best way that I know how. Calculate the funding gap that is made up by general fund taxes, charge it directly via road use taxes or gas taxes, and then allocate the general fund savings to everybody in the form of a tax refund.

Then you have to sell it, and that's where Canada doesn't seem to be doing it right. For the vast majority of road users, this would be a net win. For those that drive a lot of miles, to the point where it would not be a financial win, it's still a quality of life win: most of the cost is offset, and some of it goes towards reducing traffic and having better roads to drive on. Those points need to be hammered home. Hell, I'm mostly a tax-hating libertarian, but I'm practically begging for this.

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Re:Solar and Wind Power So Cheap They’re Outgrowing Subsidies by mikepurvis on Thursday September 19, 2019 @11:31AM (#21017144)

I will agree that the current Liberal government really botched the messaging and rollout of this, but it's been immensely frustrating watching the opposition party go to down on it with bad-faith arguments and misinformation about how the tax is "costing Canadians".

And that doesn't even get into distractions like the provincial government in Ontario putting propaganda stickers on pumps and a tempest in a teapot about how sales tax is being charged after the carbon tax, and the sales tax is not also being rebated, therefore the whole thing is a giant fraud.

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