A wide cross section of knowledgeable people showed strong interest this week in the Liberal proposal to start shifting federal taxes from income to carbon pollution. Representatives of business, NGOs, universities, environmental consultants and the legal bar gathered on short notice to question Martha Hall Findlay and Michael McNair about the plan, and kept on discussing the issues much longer than scheduled. While most attendees had questions and concerns about some details of the proposal, there was a general consensus that we should be taxing bads rather than goods. And it was heartening to see so many people give up a summer evening to talk eagerly about tax policy!
