Is the Australian Government appealing to our basic greed with the carbon tax?

I've noticed a sad trend in our society which is the government seems to put into place what it wants to do and does so by appealing to our basic greed. Yes. Our greed.

The government is currently saying something like 70% of households will be compensated. The question I have is why?

I read once that somewhere around the 1920's government worked out if it wanted to take something from people, a way to make it easier was to give them something in return. That is raise taxes in one area but give something back in another which is less but people feel like they've gotten something in return.

If carbon is a real issue (and I believe our excess usage by all of us is a problem for future generations) then why is the government trying to create a carbon trading scheme which in effect looks to me like they're trying to create another share market. Using our tax dollars to make something from nothing.

For example when the government offered people to swap over their light globes a large number of people had someone come in and swap over their light globes. From what I read each light globe cost us $10. One household I know had 43 light globes. That's around $430 for an hour's worth of work which we will all end having to pay back. This is an example of basic greed. People getting what they think is something for nothing, but in the end we all end up paying. i felt a better way would have been to allow us to trade in our old light globes at the local council which could have been done for a fractions of the cost.

When it comes to solar panels those installing 1.5kW systems took the opportunity to get around a $5,000 subsidy which of course we all end up paying for with greater electricity bills. That feels to me like basic greed by some people at the expense of their neighbours. A better approach which is being done now is to invest that money into large scale projects where the economics is better than installing solar panels on a house by house basis.

The set-top box program which will cost around $300 per pensioner for something that can be bought for around $50 is another example of people taking without thinking about the cost to others. i would have hoped those in our society with the greatest life experience would so know to the government offer knowing that it is other who will be paying for their greed. The government of course wants to phase out analogue TV and I'd suspect it is perhaps to sell off the bandwidth for more licensing fees.

Now we get the carbon tax. We're being told about 70% of people will be compensated. But really why? Why not bring in a plan where those businesses using excessive amounts of energy have to reduce their quotes or face heavy fines. Fines heavier than if they reinvested the money in green technologies to reduce their impact. According to a report on A Current Affair recently just 50 companies produce 50% of the carbon emissions. Surely the government could work with those companies to start reducing their carbon emissions and to do it in such a way that costs to consumers cannot be increased.

To me carbon tax appears to be a cash grab by the government. I don't think this should be necessary. We should all aim to do our part to reduce our usage. It really doesn't take much.

The irony of the current situation is if we look at our electricity bill we are rewarded with lower tariffs if we use more electricity. Surely we should be rewarded for using less rather than more. Those who cut their usage should be rewarded.

Sadly it just appears the government is trying to raise around $20 billion dollars a year of additional revenue which will end up costing us up to $80 billion dollars a year once those cost go through our industries. This is an enormous overhead for future generations. A burden I don't think is fair on future generations. An overhead that once in place will never be removed.

I didn't use the the government program to replace light globes but instead chose to purchase lights using my own money. I didn't install solar panels but instead chose to reduce my energy use by around 50%. However I won't have any choice with the carbon tax and neither will future generations.

I hope people can see that if the government is offering something, they are generally taking away more than they are giving. Don't be greedy. Your greed will only hurt yourself and future generations. Look at your own usage of resources and look at ways of reducing your footprint on this earth.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.justlocal.com.au/