Green in judgment? Oliver Penrose on investment over tax

‘What we need is not ingenious taxation proposals but a programme of investment.’

‘To maintain living standards without fossil fuel, we need new energy sources.’ | Photo: by RawFilm on Unsplash

The 30 July issue of the Friend contained a report that Milton Keynes Council, encouraged by local Quakers, had voted in favour of a ‘Carbon Fee and Dividend’ proposal. In this scheme (also known as ‘Climate Income’), a tax is levied on the sale of fossil fuels, and the revenue of this tax is distributed over the entire population as a monthly income or regular payment. The idea that the climate crisis can be alleviated simply by transferring money from greedy fossil-fuel producers to needy low-income families sounds too good to be true, and I will argue that it is indeed too good to be true.

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