Australia had a world leading emissions trading scheme about 15 years ago (??), it was destoyed the minute the business conservatives won the election.
You might be right but there is a lot of opposition against stuff like this.
The fact that we are not passing the laws, elected representatives are. There is a tremendous firewall between us and our representatives, and lobby systems are past the firewall.
Eventually everyone will come to their senses and tax externalities. The question is how much damage will have been done until then.