Australia: How Not to Subsidise Electricity
Australia's federal government has created a tax break for electricity generated using diesel lowering its cost by a third. Professor Andrew Blakers from the Australian National University believes the tax break worth over one billion dollars (U.S.) will encourage people living in rural areas to choose diesel over solar generated power.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1165115.htm
posted by James at 1:02 am
4 Comments:
Interesting headline. Is there such a thing as a "good" subsidy?
Answer: The only good subsidy is the one that winds up in MY pocket. Whoever I am.
Subsidies create problems, not solutions.
Jason G. Williscroft
The Dead Hand
Erm, one should also remember that there is an election on ATM in Australia and that the country voters are erm, apat to want their pound of flesh.
Jason,
Discussing whether there should be any subsidies is an in-depth socio-economic debate.
In the real world almost every government subsidises many things (e.g. army, police force, road building, waste management etc.)
My point is that reserves of non-renewable fossil fuels are being depleted fast. Therefore if subsidies are used, they should be used intelligently to encourage clean renewable energy sources.
James
Alternative Energy Blog
Now if they would just plant a field of sunflowers, corn, or soy (even mustard) to produce vegetable oil to run those diesels, would any of us mind?
www.green-trust.org
Post a Comment
<< Alternative Energy Home Page