[danheskett]

There's nothing saying you have to tax the first watt like the millionth watt.

Just design the tax regime so that it is high usage users who are paying the high costs, and exclude any usage levels that would impact homes, small businesses, and "normal" acceptable uses.

I agree that tax policy is more complex than just "tax the shit out of it", but everytime a tax is proposed, there comes a group of people who argue that taxation is so complex that we can't possibly grok it. That is clearly not the case.

[corty]

Everytime a tax is proposed, people like me suggest to look at the German Energiewende. Small businesses and private homes are taxed to hell and back on electricity, to keep prices for large businesses internationally competitive, because those bussineses can just pack up and go elsewhere. Or cause a revolution when going bancrupt. Taxing large consumers more also doesn't work. Taxes are never the single answer, you always need to combine them with import duties, ending trade agreements, leaving the WTO, maybe even leaving the EU to be able to levy duties on other European countries with a lesser energy tax. Because that is what it takes to create a fair tax regime on energy.

I guess only the very radical greens would want to stomach that backlash...