Carbon Import Tax (At Final Vote)

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I suppose I'll kick off discussion of this bill, as it's part of the agenda on which I campaigned.

The Carbon Tax is now an integral part of Atlasia's defense against climate change and pollution, but it puts Atlasia at a significant competitive disadvantage against countries such as China and India, both of which have much less stringent environmental laws.

The Kyoto Agreement is a well-meaning treaty, but it's toothless unless we can make China (fast becoming the world's largest producer of greenhouse gas if it isn't number 1 already) take the same level of responsibility towards the environment. While we cannot force China, India, and other quick-industrializing countries to make a total committment, we can use our clout as a consumerist nation to make them pay for the environmental impact of doing business with (and thus profiting off) Atlasia.

Not only will this help the environment (specifically when paired with my other bills dedicating a portion of the Carbon Tax towards mass transit and clean energy), but it will also take away the desire of Atlasian companies to move factories overseas to skirt the Carbon Tax.  I encourage passage.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I am not a global warming alarmist, but given the existing legislation, this appears to be a sensible concomitant.  My only concern that comes to mind at the moment, is that it might lead to trade wars, as well as violate existing trade agreements, which well, maybe don't exist in "our world."  But that gets back to the matter as to which side of the looking glass reality is, or whether it is a combination of both sides. One of the joys of serving in a responsible position in Atlasia, is one needs to parse the nooks and crannies of existentialism.

The simple fact is that, as far as this administration is concerned, that the current Atlasian Carbon Tax makes our products so noncompetitive on a global level that this act is needed to level the playing field.

I would hope that international opposition to this would be minimal, since this merely returns the playing field to exactly where it was at before we passed the Carbon Tax last year.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Yeaaaaaah, let's get this sucker voted on.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Law'd.



William F. Moderate