re: #15 Obdicut

Really slowly this time:

Tax credits don’t help if the people aren’t paying taxes in the first place. Unless you’re actually proposing paying them money to cover the cost of the fuel— which would actually obviate the effect of having the tax in the first place, in a supremely useless move.

You’re not listening. I’m done talking.

Even slower: do you know what an earned income tax credit is? It’s a person who doesn’t pay tax, but receives a tax credit. Not a break. Not a deduction. A credit. You do know that the government pays credits in cash, right?

And it wouldn’t obviate the effect of having the tax in the first place. Say that i raise your fuel costs by $1000. You get an additional tax credit from the government for (i’m making this up) $750. The tax credit will slowly phase out in X years. You now have a powerful incentive to switch to a different furnace, or at least greatly increase the efficiency of your existing furnace, because the faster you switch, the more you’ll benefit from the increased credit, which won’t last forever.

Don’t pout when I’m the one working to help you understand. Pigovian, revenue-neutral solutions aren’t exactly revolutionary in economic circles.