Dear editor:

It is widely agreed that our climate change is driven by carbon emissions. 

It is also widely agreed that the carbon footprint of the poor is a tiny fraction of the total.

The top 1 per cent of polluters contribute twice as much as the bottom 50 per cent, for example.

The custom of “giving back” is well-established. Let’s build on that with a Giving Back Tax. 

This tax could apply quite widely but on a progressive scale. I would pay less than Mark Zuckerberg, for example. 

Let’s put this money to work on a job desperately needing to be done: repairing and preserving our ecosystems.

Some may object to a tax being called a gift. 

The use of oxymorons in our political lexicon is already widely accepted: for example, we have a health care system without dental care or pharmacare, and which is  primarily sick care.

A spoonful bit of sugar helps the medicine go down?

David Lailey
NOTL