I wonder if they tried to market it as a 'Fossil Fuel Tax' ... and then sold it to voters as a tax on Big-Bad Oil Companies ... if it'd garner more support.
People seem pretty convinced that oil companies are the root of all evil, so they might actually embrace the word 'tax' in this case.
(Of course, the oil companies and utilities could just point out that it would raise the price of gas, which would kill it. You could propose a law that gave everyone free ice cream for life and people would impose it if it raised their gas prices by a penny.)
That wouldn't work in Canada, because of the oil sands boom. Basically vast amounts of oil that weren't viable below $40 a barrel suddenly created billionaires overnight. And took our dollar from $0.75 to $1.05 (though now in retreat).
People seem pretty convinced that oil companies are the root of all evil, so they might actually embrace the word 'tax' in this case.
(Of course, the oil companies and utilities could just point out that it would raise the price of gas, which would kill it. You could propose a law that gave everyone free ice cream for life and people would impose it if it raised their gas prices by a penny.)