Depends what he does with the money.
The Guardian reports that Mr. Brown wants to tax 4×4s and air travel as a response to the Stern report on climate change. In principle I think this is a good idea, at least in the next few years until we can get a real market in the cost of GHG emissions which would allow a market-driven pricing of the externalities of burning fossil fuels. However I am suspicious that the real reason Mr. Brown is advocating these new taxes is not to drive cleaner, more environmentally friendly behavior, but to get his hands on yet more of the country’s money (because of course he knows better than the rest of us what is good for us)… It would make me feel much better if these new taxes were to be hypothecated - with the proceeds ring-fenced for the development of alternative transport and energy infrastructure.
November 24th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Your suspicion is well placed and I’m certainly of the same mind. The language used in the “Why” context screams “we’re really headed for trouble here people” and “The biggest threat to our way of life in history”. When it comes to the “What”-we’re going to do about it vocabulary, well “Stimulate behavioural change” doesn’t add up to quite the decisive action you’d expect given the “Why” box of words used.