>Yeah, you've got a point. I'm thinking there should be some
>progressivity in electricity bills, so that a poor family in a small
>apartment pays less per kwh than does John Edwards in his 28,000 ft2
>house. But as for Patrick's idea, I really don't know how to
>translate the concept into practice. Maybe someone else does.
The obvious way is not to make the tax "progressive" with different rates for different electricity customers, but tax carbon dioxide production across the board.
The effects on the retail users can be dealt with by paying government income supplements to people according to circumstances, using the revenue generated by the tax. It might even be revenue-neutral, it still has the desired effect from a market point of view of making energy generated by burning carbon more expensive than the alternatives.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell tas