| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
03 Sep 2007 10:15:31 AM |
| Object: |
Public 'wary of green tax motives' |
Public 'wary of green tax motives'
Last updated at 02:10am on 3rd September 2007
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=479514&in_page_id=1770
Nearly two-thirds of the public believe ministers are using
environmental fears as an excuse to raise tax revenue, according to a
poll.
And research suggests their cynicism is justified - with green taxes
raking in £10 billion more for the Treasury than it would cost to
offset the entire UK's carbon footprint.
The figures are contained in a dossier compiled by pressure group the
TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA).
The document is likely to provide grim reading for politicians of all
colours - including Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Tory leader David
Cameron - who are committed to making individuals pay for habits which
damage the environment.
A survey carried out by YouGov for the TPA found that only a fifth of
people thought politicians were genuinely trying to change behaviours
using the tax system. In contrast, 63% believed they were using the
issue as an excuse to pull in more cash.
Nearly four-fifths voiced opposition to the so-called "pay as you
throw" schemes floated by the Government to encourage recycling -
despite previous surveys indicating a majority backed the idea.
Some 60% said fuel duty was an unfair tax, while 45% thought the same
about air passenger duty - which was recently doubled by the
Government.
Opinion was evenly split over whether they approved in principle of
extra "green" charges on motoring and air travel - with 46% saying
they did not and 45% saying they did.
Using previous international research into climate change, the report
estimated that covering the social cost of carbon emissions would have
cost £11.7 billion in 2005.
But receipts from green taxes such as fuel duty, road tax and the
Climate Change Levy totalled £21.9 billion. On average every household
in the UK paid £400 more in levies than it cost to cover their own
footprint, the TPA claimed.
--
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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