Ya gotta know how to tax ’em

I have attached a link to an interesting editorial from the Weekend Australian.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/its-madness-to-sacrifice-ourselves-for-nothing/story-e6frgd0x-1226036215554

Cost ! It all comes down to cost.

It’s a bit rich for western countries to criticise the newly industrialised nations of China and India for their carbon dioxide emissions, for the West has been a dirty polluter for over a 120 years.

These guys have only got going in the past 20 years and we’re crying foul. As they modernise, their huge populations won’t help how their viewed as their per capita usage will also increase.

To reduce emissions, perhaps western leaders should refrain from courting China and India’s consumers and government’s from buying their country’s exports?

I believe many folks support renewable energies and I think this theme has longevity but it all comes down to cost. It needs to be cheap enough for all of us to install solar panels on our rooftops.

Like it or not, in many economies, coal is “it” for mainstream power generation. It is plentiful and cheap. It’s that simple. In previous posts I have discussed the importance of being a low-cost producer.

When making investment decisions, simplicity and fact weighs more than hope, subsidies and policy from governments (barely clinching to power) who are focused on the next election cycle.

Government likes an industry that it knows how to tax. Government knows how to tax alcohol, tobacco, petroleum, financial services, real estate transactions, minerals and commodities.

I haven’t seen any government endorsing, let alone subsidising, the proliferation of the electric car, because they don’t know how to tax the electricity being used to recharge the car while parked in a garage.

So when governments figure out how to tax the sun, wind and water, there will be increased hope for the renewable energy industry.