Today’s Wall Street Journal reports, in “Czech Green-Power Plan Dimmed by Tax Battle”:
“As global leaders assess the results of the United Nations summit on tackling global warming in the Mexican resort city of Cancun, which ended Friday, a political and legal mess is unfolding following the Czech Republic’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.”
The Czech Republic may be reducing its carbon footprint with its pointless solar energy scheme, but it is suffering under the boot of government intervention. The Czech people, freed from Communism, should know better than to believe the myths fostered by government, in this case the myth of global warming. (The low in Prague this week will be 14º F.) They should also know to reject central planning, including energy planning.
Taxpayers are forced to subsidize solar power, and, predictably, consumers will pay higher electricity rates. Now the government plans to tax the solar power producers to subsidize these rates.
If the government really wants to make “the Czech economy competitive,” as stated by the trade minister, wouldn’t it be better to acknowledge that the whole green energy concept is a mistake, and let the free market determine energy use?
