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Tax under a different guise ....
Why does one need a think tank to come up with solutions that should be blindingly obvious?
There are all sorts of areas that have been overlooked either unintentionally or by design because they are unpalatable.
One such example is aviation fuel. Not only are flights far too cheap to be sustainable, they do in-calculable damage to the stratosphere with their emissions at this level. Furthermore a single flight creates more pollution than any number of 4x4's, light bulbs etc. and yet the reality of this is conveniently overlooked for political capital!
We have the opportunity to make a very real contribution with new sustainable alternative fuels. The problem is that it is unattractive because there is no encouragement in the form of tax incentives; frankly no-one trust the Chancellor not to impose penal taxes if any alternative fuels are introduced.
It is interesting to note that nearly all the measures include an element of tax for the benefit of the Chancellor supported by the flawed reasoning '..to reduce energy consumption won’t work unless accompanied by tougher policy measures..' - this is rubbish
Of course there are solutions that do not directly line the Chancellors pocket and two of them are outlined below:
- water meters mandatory on all new build
- solar panel mandatory on all new build. Even raising domestic water temperatures by 5-10 degrees has a huge impact
Other areas such as Ground Source Heat Pumps provide greater sustainability, although there are physical limitations to this
Take one example of Government commitment in the alternative energy area - the grant for solar panels was reduced by £100 a couple of years ago. Hardly a commitment by any standards
The real question has to be whether this is just another indirect tax or are the 'Green' levies really being applied to resolve Green issues - one suspects not
Maybe a principle of 'ear-marking' funds raised from taxes should be applied in this area (and others). But then this concept has always been an anathema to Chancellors
It has never been about 'Green' thinking but primarily ever more ingenious ways of raising tax