I am impressed by the courage of those who have taken direct action in the cause of the Extinction Rebellion. They have gone beyond talk, as the crisis facing our world requires.
But, that said, I have never been inclined to take direct action: it's just not the way I want to change the world. I am not saying it's wrong: far from it in fact. I think it works. But I have always felt that there have been other things for me to do. And what that has meant in the current situation is that I have had to ask myself what I might do. My answer is to suggest that we need to talk about Tax to Save The Environment (TASTE).
I have long argued that the primary purpose of tax is not to raise revenue. I wrote a whole book - The Joy of Tax - on that theme. I unashamedly recommend reading it. In it I suggested that there were six reasons for tax:
- Reclaiming the money the government has spent into the economy.
- Ratifying the value of money.
- Reorganising the economy.
- Redistributing income and wealth within the economy.
- Repricing goods and services.
- Raising representation in a democracy.
These are explained in more detail here.
My argument when suggesting Tax to Save The Environment falls into categories 3, 4 and 5, although with a focus on the last, and definite implications for the other groups. I stress: the aim is not to raise money. It is to use tax to change the way out society works.
And that is what is required now: a whole change to the way our society works. Since in my opinion tax is one of the most powerful tools that we have to change the way that society works, for better or worse, my contribution will be to suggest ways that tax can deliver change for the better to help save our plant. That's what TASTE will be all about.
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[…] my suggestion that we need to use Tax to Save the Environment (TASTE). Let me start with a simple example of something we could do […]
[…] have already this morning introduced the idea of TASTE – Tax to Save The Environment. And I have suggested the first such tax – which would be VAT on food products made from cattle, […]
[…] believe that we need Tax to Save The Environment (TASTE). I have offered two already. One is VAT on food products made from cattle, sheep and goats. The […]
So you are proposing a carbon tax.
Why not read what I am writing?
An effective way to change social behaviour is a combination of taxation and marketing. What took decades to achieve re smoking could be done today in a quarter of the time thanks to the Internet & social media. Nevertheless the anti-smoking campaign remains a good model. Easy to forget how entrenched smoking was in the public psyche – just look at any pre-1950s movies – with even doctors endorsing it in the US (paid to of course).
Following the introduction of a flight tax, something like it is happening now in Sweden, with use of the word ‘flugskam’ as a shaming tactic, Due to geography and climate, Swedes are one of the most ‘frequent flying’ nations. In parallel, the Red-Green alliance government has invested more in improving the national rail service – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-14/as-flying-shame-grips-sweden-sas-ups-stakes-in-climate-battle.
With resources not a problem, the only thing holding back action on the environment is neo-liberal political will. While I’m not holding my breath (right-wing sociopathy isn’t to be underestimated), sustained popular global pressure may just win the day. That’s a referendum an 80% majority want to win. Happy Easter!