More Evidence that British Columbia's Carbon Tax is Just a Tax Grab

So the Canadian province of British Columbia is going to raise the speed limit on some of its highways to 120 km/h (75 mph) from 110 km/h (68 mph). A number of other highways will see increases from 80 km/h (50 mph) up to either 90 km/h (56 mph) or 100 km/h (62 mph), and various 10 km/h (6 mph) increases will also take place in regions currently having speed limits of 90 or 100 km/h.

What can this possibly have to do with climate change policies? Everything. It adds further evidence to the mounting pile of incoherence that British Columbia's carbon tax scheme is really nothing more than some combination of a pure tax grab coupled to a superficial attempted public relations effort along with some classic crony capitalism. In the provincial government's own words, the carbon tax "puts a price on carbon to encourage individuals, businesses, industry and others to use less fossil fuel and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions [and allow the province] to be a leader in climate action by having a carbon tax." The government's carbon tax webpage states that "Greener Choices Can Save You Money," providing the public with a table of options for "Savings from Carbon Emission Reductions." Interesting. The third option in this table is as follows: "Slow down: Reducing highway driving speeds from 100 km/hr to 90 km/hr can reduce fuel consumption by as much as 15%: vehicle with fuel efficiency of 10L/100km." The hypocritical incoherence of British Columbia's carbon pricing rears its ugly head once again.

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Hypocritical incoherence of British Columbia's carbon pricing

On the government's webpage for "Myths and Facts About the Carbon Tax," the government -- of course -- denies the carbon tax is just a tax grab, and instead tells its carbon taxpaying audience that "based on new car sales data for British Columbia since 2001, it is evident that the increase in gasoline prices has caused many consumers to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. The market share of subcompact and compact passenger car sales has increased steadily while the market share of larger cars, SUVs, pickups and minivans has declined." Try to reconcile this with a speed limit increase. Put a price on carbon in order to shift vehicle purchasing choices towards more fuel-efficient options, and then increase speed limits to intentionally lower fuel efficiency? So the province's goal was to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and to do this it brought in an economically punitive carbon tax. And now the province is going to raise speed limits throughout much of the province, which will have the direct and immediate impact of increasing greenhouse gas emissions? Incoherent and hypocritical? Absolutely. Of course the speed limits should be increased. Having lived in British Columbia for three decades, I can attest to this fact. But it is also nice to see the province enacting policies that contradict the nonsensical claims over the carbon price's real purpose. British Columbia's carbon tax was never really about reducing greenhouse gas emissions (if it was, the province wouldn't have policies -- such as increasing speed limits -- that will serve to increase greenhouse gas emissions), it was always about another form of tax system based wealth redistribution coupled to green crony capitalism. How much will increasing speed limits lower fuel efficiency, and thereby increase greenhouse gas emissions relative to the lower speed limit counterfactual? Well, Wired.com has some useful calculations on the relationship between speed and fuel efficiency. Depending on what the speed limit increase is, and the inherent fuel efficiency of the vehicle, drivers can expect fuel efficiency reductions of about 20 to 30 percent by moving up to the higher speed limits. This means an increase in greenhouse gas emissions per kilometer traveled by the same range. The answer is for the province to both increase the speed limit and eliminate the carbon tax, thereby allowing drivers to travel faster and cheaper than at present. But in the alternative, if the carbon tax stays in place while the speed limit increases, the government has exposed the price on carbon for the environmental sham it is.