Report: Britain Mulling ‘Green Taxes’
"UK"10/29/2006
Oct 28, 10:08 PM (ET)
LONDON (AP) - The British government may levy new “green taxes” to combat climate change, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The Mail on Sunday said in early editions that it had obtained a letter purportedly written by Environment Minister David Miliband to treasury chief Gordon Brown which called for higher taxes on cheap airline flights, fuel, and high-emission vehicles.
The government should “increase the pace of existing tax measures, broaden them into sectors where incentives to cut carbon emissions are weak and identify new instruments to drive progress in tackling greenhouse gas,” the newspaper quoted the letter as stating.
A $9.50 increase in taxes on low-cost airline flights would raise $760 million a year, the report said. The letter also recommends that the government explore a “substantial increase” in taxes for high-emission vehicles.
The newspaper quoted an aide to Miliband as saying that the letter contained only ideas, rather than a package of measures.
A report on climate change, commissioned by Brown, is due to be released Monday. The 700-page report is expected say global warming could cost world economies trillions of dollars, the Observer newspaper reported.
The Observer said the report will say the world needs to spend $349 billion, or 1 percent of global gross domestic product, to deal with climate change. The report will also recommend that a successor to the Kyoto accord be signed next year rather than waiting for 2010 or 2011 because of the urgency of the problem.