I'm fine with the idea of a carbon tax, but they shouldn't give rebates. The whole point is to give financial incentive to change your behavior, and if you give the money back anyway, what's the incentive?
The 'incentive' is that not everyone gets a rebate equal to the amount that they pay in carbon taxes.
Lets say there are 2 people, X and Y. Both are in the same tax bracket and get rebates of $100.
Person X drives a hummer, and lives in a mansion with no insulation, and as a result pays a carbon tax of $150. Net result: He is out of pocket $50 (despite him getting a rebate).
Person Y drives a prius. He lives in a small, energy-efficient home, and as a result paid $50 in carbon taxes. Even though he got the same rebate as person X, at the end of the day he gets an extra $50 in his pocket that he didn't have before (and a whole $100 more than person X.)
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