Who Needs a Carbon Tax?

Spending time in India gives one a  certain perspective on the matter. Indian  governments don't have the luxury of  another tax, despite the fact that it is  becoming more affordable for the Indian  middle class. Indian personal tax rates are  a flat 20 per cent and most company taxes  are far below that. Fortunately the British  Raj left a legacy of income registration  and internal revenue collection... God  bless the public service. 

Even if a new tax was a possibility, in  India right now, a carbon tax simply  wouldn't occur. In the three months I've  just spent in the country, I did not read,  hear or see a single reference to global  warming. It's simply not a pressing issue  in a country where fundamental daily  staples are still the concern of 400 million  souls who officially remain below the  poverty line. 

While millionaire Cate Blanchett fronts  media campaigns telling you to turn  your lights off and fork out for another  tax in one of the most taxed nations in  the world, the residents of Ahmedabad  and Khanpur are more concerned with  continuous domestic electricity and some  clean water. 

That country's Bollywood stars are more  inclined to spruik yoghurt or mobile  phones, and to and compel consumers to  spend wisely, save judiciously and drive  safely during the monsoon. 

Speaking of contrasts, at the close of my  excursion to India for the Indian Premier  League, I took a flying visit to one of the  United Arab Emirates. Qatar is a two  and a half hour flight from Mumbai but  a galaxy away in terms of population,  lifestyle, architecture and living standard. 

The attraction of my trip to the UAE  was the familiar central theme of sport,  in particular cricket. 

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the near  neighbours of Qatar. Both 'emirates' are  independent and run by the original Saudi  sheiks who protect the natural culture  of their once nomadic goat herding, date  gathering societies. Yet they could only be  described as "the polar opposite". There  are no individual taxes in Qatar, and the  sheikdom sits on 80 per cent of the world's  known natural gas resources. All land is  owned by the indigenous Qataris - there's  no foreign land held - and the state looks  after all of the infrastructure, which is  very impressive. 

Having acquired the most votes, Qatar  recently won the bid to host the 2022  World Football Cup. Australia was  one of the losing bidders, having spent approximately AUD$21 million dollars  per FIFA delegate's vote. In response to  accusations of an "inappropriate" climate,  those from the home of perpetual summer  and sand said they would build all airconditioned  stadia. They weren't joking.  In the next decade $180 Billion (that's  US Dollars rather than the much more  valuable Aussie one) is earmarked for state  sponsored public works. 

The haphazard bounce of the stock market  does not affect the local economy and they  have no notion of global warming - it's  already hot there all year round. They do  grow grass and plant trees using billions of  gallons of desalinated water so I guess they  are doing their bit to keep the gas quotient  low. Releasing all that underground natural  gas into the atmosphere is a severe negative  blow to greenhouse gas control. However  without that earthly resource, perhaps  the modern city of Doha would still be a  Bedouin fishing village. 

Qatar's choice is a no-brainer. The 1.3  million residents will not be paying a  carbon tax or leaving their precious asset  in the ground. Meanwhile, Australians  debate the value of a carbon tax, which will  indisputably raise the price of commodities  and cost jobs. Yet despite having one of the  largest per capita carbon footprints in the  world, as a nation, we contribute almost  zero per cent of the planet's CO2. 

A healthy humane conscience is a  wonderful compass to leaving a better  planet for our grandchildren. But whether  or not people who can afford it is an  entirely different matter.