Motorists should be hit with a £3,300 green tax on new cars, an independent green think tank has concluded.
The Green Fiscal Commission has put forward a number of green taxes as part of a £150bn package of measures to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions including a suggested a £300 tax on new cars, increasing annually to £3,300 by 2020.
According to The Telegraph, the think tank has also proposed a tripling to fuel duty over the next decade and a household energy tax in its ‘Doing What it Takes to Reduce Carbon Emissions: The Case for Green Fiscal Reform’ report.
The recommendations published today, say that the Government should refocus taxes around green incentives, increasing the levy against polluting activities such as buying gas-guzzlers. At the same time the report recommends that the increase in green taxes should be offset by decreases in other taxes such as National Insurance contributions and income tax.
The report concluded: “Given the importance that price has on the purchasing choices people make, green taxes are a vital part of driving down carbon emissions. However, such taxes are controversial and difficult for politicians to implement,” but that increasing green taxation “is a recipe for economic stability and energy security, as well as an ordered transition to a low-carbon way of life.”
