Supports of a carbon tax and dividend program say it will be a great thing and save us from climate change. Whether it would achieve that goal is debatable, as is the predicted temperature rise.

The people speaking for a carbon tax do not consider all the side effects. What is the guy that is barely getting by supposed to do when the price of gas doubles and he can no longer afford to drive to work? What about people on fixed income that heat their homes with carbon fuels? When the price of those fuels doubles, are they going have to start burning their furniture?

Taxing carbon emissions will increase the cost of everything you do and everything you buy. Does anyone remember what $4 per gallon fuel did for your budget and the economy? What if you tax carbon emissions enough so that it achieves the desired reduction, it destroys the economy, and the global temperature continues to rise? Then what?

Giving large amounts of money to the government is unlikely to fix anything because government has a huge propensity to waste money. And the idea that a carbon tax and dividend program would be “revenue neutral” and actually create jobs is smoke and mirrors. The only jobs it is likely to create are government jobs to administer the program. Anybody who thinks the government is going to take money out of one of your pockets and put money back in your other pocket and you will end up with the same amount of money has no understanding of how government works.

Cleaning up our environment is a good idea, but a carbon tax is not. You also might want to consider how well carbon taxes seem to be working in France.

M. Gerald Small

West Gardiner