Toronto City Councillor Mike Layton wants you to.
Layton has asked city staff to come up with a number for the city’s budget to deal with global warming, which he says is caused by oil companies refusing to admit they caused it. He uses that rhetoric because he believes that the oil executives are acting just like tobacco executives who deny the dangers of smoking.
That attack has been tried in multiple jurisdictions in the United States and consistently rejected by the courts.
On my NEWSTALK1010 radio show, Layton vilified the oil companies who “continue to make a profit, and I think they should be made to share some of those profits for the effect their products have on municipal infrastructure.”
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The only way a business stays in business is to pass all costs to the consumer, with profit built in. If all expenses are not covered, the company goes broke.
“Everyone always assumes that,” Layton said. “But the consumers will pay what the market dictates, right? They don’t have to pass those costs on. They are making enormous profits, as well. Why do we assume it won’t come from that profit-driven end?”
As Layton points out, many oil companies are huge. If they profit, the number looks enormous — in the billions. However, their profit margin is consistently lower than that of most manufacturers and many sectors of the economy. However, it is easy to present a large number designed to win the support of people who don’t know what a profit margin is.
I asked: “Who makes the most profit off a liter of gasoline?”
Layton replied: “That is something that I don’t know.”
According to a May 2018 report from the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation (CTF), it is government with taxes making up “33% of the pump price for gasoline on average and 30% for diesel.” The oil companies and service stations do not enjoy that level of profit.
The CTF wrote: “Federal and provincial governments will collect an estimated $24 billion in fuel taxes in 2018, including $1.8 billion in tax-on-tax.”
Layton tried to deflect by saying that he was not trying to increase the price of gasoline. He said he didn’t think the tobacco companies’ settlement caused prices to rise.
However, the CBC reported last year: “Wholesale cigarette prices obtained by Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada and shared with CBC News show the cost of a carton of cigarettes has increased by roughly $7 since the last election.”
Layton said, “I am simply making the point that those who benefit from the degradation of our environment pay their share so it’s not stuck on me, you, and our kids.”
So that would be many people with retirement money in a mutual fund, including union pensions. Ordinary people own the oil companies through stocks.
It is not just a couple of guys who look like the Banker from the Monopoly game, burning hundred dollar bills to light their cigars and laughing at the rest of us.
Layton is uninformed and on a fool’s errand, spending money at City Hall to take on a fight offering no benefit to you.
