Avi Lewis23h ago

Striking that the Liberals and Conservatives offer the same response to pain at the pump: siphon money out of the public purse instead of Big Oil’s profits.

Oil companies are on track to make tens of billions in windfall profits from Trump’s illegal war in Iran.

It’s their profiteering that’s driving up prices. It’s them who should pay.

It’s time for price caps on gas to stop oil companies from price-gouging Canadians — and a windfall profits tax on war-time oil revenues, so the government can invest that money in the public interest.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-fuel-excise-tax-affordability-9.7162911

#cdnpoli #gas

Carney temporarily suspending federal fuel excise tax on gas, diesel and aviation fuel | CBC News

A day after sweeping three byelections in Ontario and Quebec that gave him a majority in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Mark Carney says he is temporarily removing the federal excise tax on gas and diesel.

CBC
Show threadAlessandro Corazza 🇨🇦22h ago

@avilewis

Oil companies don't even set prices, so the economic soundness of this take is questionable. I think a better approach is to let high prices take their course, stop subsidizing big oil capital projects, and fund publicly-owned renewables instead.

Show threadOlivier21h ago

@alessandro, maybe all of it? I'm skeptical on the feasibility of a price cap, but ending oil subsidies and windfall taxes on wartime profits are fair game and way overdue.

@avilewis

Show threadAlessandro Corazza 🇨🇦21h ago

@dacmot

How would that be parsed when so much oil is sold via futures - should oil contracts purchased before the price spike be taxed more, or should revenue months down the line be taxed instead? And if we tax windfalls, should we subsidize their lean years?

I also don't want further dependence on tax revenue from an industry that we should get rid of.

@avilewis

Show threadHallucinationsofasiliconslab21h ago
@alessandro @dacmot @avilewis Show me what their lean years consist of and maybe we'll consider a proposal to "help" them. However, if we find that they used their profits to lobby government for favourable legislation to continue the use of fossil fuels instead of the transition to cleaner energy, then we hammer them with the costs of climate change due to the use of their product.
Show threadAlessandro Corazza 🇨🇦21h ago

@Karnbot13

Oh there's no doubt they funded lobbying! But that isn't just a big oil problem - everybody does it. We need to drop the hammer on all of them, but it's a separate issue.

@dacmot @avilewis

Show threadHallucinationsofasiliconslab20h ago
@alessandro @dacmot @avilewis We can drop the hammer on all of them eventually. I suggest we deal with the climate problems caused by their products. Using the government to tax them out of existing at the level they're at, would be a good start. Might even come up with some less violent solutions for dealing with billionaires too
Show threadOlivier20h ago

@Karnbot13 I agree with you in principle: we need to get rid of fossil fuels, and the sooner the better.

Unfortunately, such a draconian method could cause further gas price hikes and be very unpopular. Any government implementing this would need to lie by omission to be elected, if they are elected at all, and would almost certainly be ousted at the next elections.

Would it be worth it? Maybe. It could give the jolt we collectively need to change our destructive way of life. I have a feeling however it would be short lived.

@alessandro @avilewis

Show threadHallucinationsofasiliconslab
@dacmot @alessandro @avilewis I am not a doomer, I believe we will make the right decisions, if we have good information. We know what the problem is and our conservative\neoliberal governments refuse to do much for anyone other than the obscenely rich, who just happen to own most of the sources of the information. It's funny that it always has to be cuts to the public services and never return to the post WW II tax rates of the 50s. We can't wait too much longer to deal with this though
Apr 14 at 8:50pmTusky