Ukrainian drones smashing into Russian refineries lately seems to be having an effect.
And I’m okay with it.
We should be paying the price for using products or byproducts that destroy the environment. Cleaning up after production should be part of the price of a product.
I don’t disagree, but the problem is that the costs are always getting passed down to the people just trying to survive.
When fuel costs go up, prices in stores increase; we all pay for that. If you live in a rural area / food desert, you’re paying more to drive to the store and then paying even more for groceries/supplies. All without any increase in wages. It also increases the cost just to get to/from work.
“Just buy an EV” isn’t really an option when all your money is tied up just trying to survive.
Meanwhile, the companies / individuals doing the bulk of the polluting continue to make record profits. If/when fuel costs go down, prices remain high much longer (if they drop at all).
In effect, that just makes it even more expensive to be poor.
It has always been expensive to be poor. Good boots last longer and EVs are cheaper in the long run etc.
You’re right that taxation hits the poor for a larger percentage of their disposable income, but that’s only because we tax it wrong, and because taxes aren’t funding the things they’re supposed to.
If I pay a CO2 tax, I’d expect the amount to buy back the cost of returning my part of that CO2 to the ground, but that’s not at all what it’s doing.
Unlike value added tax, a CO2 tax ought to be based on what step of the supply chain your buying from. That would result in the manufacturers paying for their damage and the consumer for their own.
Anyway. The cost of “cradle to grave” has been a talking point for decades and yet we’re still stuck on tax-subsidizing companies profiting off robbing the cradle, so I have completely given up hope for taxation policies to do this right.
I’m just taking my stance by minimizing my consumption and also not buying gasoline products. You do whatever you want.
