Breakthrough: Thumbs Down to "Green" Taxes in Britain

The vast majority of Britons say they would vote down proposals to increase taxes in order to fund projects to combat climate change, according to a recent poll. The Independent reported earlier this month:

The survey also reveals that most Britons believe "green" taxes on 4x4s, plastic bags and other consumer goods have been imposed to raise cash rather than change our behaviour, while two-thirds of Britons think the entire green agenda has been hijacked as a ploy to increase taxes.

The worst way to market a carbon tax is to propose that it raise revenue for an array of worthy causes - anything from health care initiatives to consumer rebates (see Sky Trust). It all goes back to Monica Prasad's critique of the carbon tax: the whole point of the tax is to make itself go out of existence, so it doesn't make much sense to create incentives to keep the tax in place. It's counterproductive, and voters can smell a cash cow. Britons said they wouldn't support this type of legislation:

Three in 10 (29 per cent) of all respondents would oppose any more legislation in support of green policies, while close to a third of citizens (31 per cent) believe that green taxes will have no discernible effect on the environment since people will still take long-haul flights regularly and drive carbon-heavy vehicles.

Friends of the Earth campaign head Mike Childs sees through the attempt to use climate change as a way to raise money for other things. He said,

People do get cynical unless they see benefits. The Government is playing a dangerous game. They are using climate change to identify potential new taxes and revenues but the public aren't seeing anything in return. The public aren't being helped to go green. The Government could put a windfall tax on the big oil companies and use that money to insulate homes or introduce a feed-in tariff to pay people to produce renewable energy.

If we're going to avert major climate change, we're going to need to bring online a massive new fleet of zero and low carbon technologies. It's going to be expensive, and we can't afford to tax the "bad guys" and let the revenue raised go to the most powerful interested parties.

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