Elizabeth May thinks you would. I wonder. Hasn't the price of gas gone up more than 12c a litre this year? What has it stopped you from doing?
And since there's all the caterwauling about gas-gouging, ask yourself this. In the current pricing scheme, does demand and supply meet? That is, is there excess of either? And if Elizabeth May's scheme works, and it's true that the oil companies are gouging, or taking excess profits, then what's to stop them absorbing the tax increase? According to lefty think tax Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the oil companies are taking 15c a litre excess profit. If a 12c tax hurts demand, then they could afford to drop prices back until demand returns. Not only could they, it would be good business to do so.
Then what? 25c a litre? 50c? 60c? Gee, I wonder who said that?
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Sixty cents a litre is the starting point for serious reduction. This is just a smooth trick to get carbon taxes in play, they'll adjust accordingly later. And we all know how hard it is to get governments to adjust down.
Update: As Gerry Nicholls wonders, is this part of the Liberals plan as well. May is, after all, a defacto Liberal candidate.
Updateier: Steve Janke has a post on this. As you can see in the comments, Richard passes on his gas expenses to customers. I pass it on to retailers in the form of non-buying. Janke makes much the same point.
