Global warming is all the rage in Europe. When they are not busy blaming the US, they are thinking of ways to fight it themselves. Well, not really fight it. More so to punish the average person, by forcing them to pay the 'actual cost' of their actions, including their share of the environmental damage that their actions create. This is mainly done through taxes. For the longest time, gasoline in Europe has been heavily taxed, to the point of 60% and more of the total price, resulting in gas being twice as expensive in Europe as it is in the US. Of course, there are other ways to travel and other ways to damage the environment.
Take this new tax proposal that is being debated in the UK:
CONSUMERS could be hit by steep price rises for a range of goods from food to hotel breaks under plans to tackle climate change being considered by David Miliband.The Environment Secretary is consulting taking sweeping powers to extend curbs on greenhouse gas emissions so that they cover many more businesses, including supermarkets and hotel chains — curbs that at present apply only to the big industrial users. The costs incurred are potentially huge and are likely to be passed on to the consumer. - Times Online
This is a different tax than this next one that the Times Online reported on in July of this year:
AIR passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys, under plans approved by the European Parliament yesterday.
MEPs voted in favour of the “immediate introduction” of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. The charge would double the cost of millions of budget airline flights. - Times Online - July
Looks like flying around Europe is going to get much more expensive. Not that its cheap now with all the taxes that are already levied on airfare tickets. The tax on jet fuel above would be in addition to this proposed requirement for airlines to purchase permits for their CO2 emissions:
Keep in mind that the amount of the taxes appear to be set arbitrarily with no link to the cost of the actual 'damage' created by their actions. Notice that there is no mention what this tax revenue is going to be used for.
Europe has been so concerned about global warming that they were eager to sign up for the Kyoto Accord to cut Greenhouse gases. Never mind that most of these countries have utterly failed to meet the requirements that they have agreed to, they are now getting ready to punish those countries that have refused to sign up to Kyoto.
Not that the French are ones to care about criticism. But wait, the EU is not the only ones planning to tax the rest of us for their own feel-good 'pet projects'.
There is a UN airfare tax that is attempting to take even more from your pockets:
Brussels aims to include the rest of the world in the European Union's latest green policy plan set to impose CO2 emission controls on all flights within and entering Europe, according to a leaked draft proposal from the European Commission.This plan will not permit airlines to purchase unused CO2 permits from other industries, because they are not expensive enough, and because Eastern Europe and Russia have many unused credits since Soviet industry was particularly dirty and of course, Kyoto measured pollution from 1990, when Soviet factories were still spewing pollution like there was no tomorrow. No, there will be a limited amount of credits available for purchase, with the industry as a whole, capped at how much CO2 it can emit. (Taken from the July story.)
The plan, which will require all flights arriving or departing from EU airports to buy permits to cover their carbon dioxide emissions, will be presented just before Christmas and is crucial to the bloc's fight against global warning and climate change.
The report estimates that passengers on flights within Europe would pay an extra €9 for a ticket, with the actual sum depending on the price of the permits. Those flying long haul would pay up to €39.60, according to The Times. - Business Weekly
Keep in mind that the amount of the taxes appear to be set arbitrarily with no link to the cost of the actual 'damage' created by their actions. Notice that there is no mention what this tax revenue is going to be used for.
Europe has been so concerned about global warming that they were eager to sign up for the Kyoto Accord to cut Greenhouse gases. Never mind that most of these countries have utterly failed to meet the requirements that they have agreed to, they are now getting ready to punish those countries that have refused to sign up to Kyoto.
FRANCE has threatened to tax imports from countries that have not signed the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.One of the countries that this tax is aimed at is Australia. They are understandably upset. Take this comment from the Australian Sunday Telegraph:
Its Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, told a meeting on sustainable development yesterday: "Europe has to use all its weight to stand up to this sort of environmental dumping.
"I would like us to study now with our European partners the principle of a carbon tax on the import of industrial products from countries which refuse to commit themselves to the Kyoto Protocol after 2012." - Sydney Morning Herald
THE country that spent 30 years testing its nuclear weapons in our region wants to punish Australia for not signing off on a voluntary greenhouse agreement.It was accompanied with this graphic:
France has outraged everyone from the Prime Minister to industry bodies for suggesting European taxes should be introduced on imports from countries that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, including Australia. - Sunday Telegraph
Not that the French are ones to care about criticism. But wait, the EU is not the only ones planning to tax the rest of us for their own feel-good 'pet projects'.There is a UN airfare tax that is attempting to take even more from your pockets:
GENEVA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Countries around the globe are rallying to the idea of taxing air travel to fund provision of cheaper drugs to poor countries fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, France's foreign minister said on Monday.But Philippe Douste-Blazy said it was essential for many more to come on board to ensure the success of the drug purchase programme through a new U.N.-backed project, UNITAID."Other countries are going to join us. We are already seeing that a genuine globalisation of solidarity is under way," he told the first session of the governing board of UNITAID, launched in New York last month by five nations."But there must and can be many more of us," he told a news conference later.The five launch nations were France, which is to contribute some $250 million next year, Brazil, Britain, Norway and Chile. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. President Bill Clinton joined them in the September launch. Nineteen rich and poorer countries have already agreed to levy the tax -- applied since July in France, whose President Jacques Chirac first proposed it -- and others say they will raise funds for the new body in other ways.The tax is also already enforced in Brazil, Chile and Gabon, with several others to follow by early next year, but it has been fiercely opposed by airlines which say it hits them unfairly and will reduce tourism to developing countries.But Douste-Blazy, who was elected as president of UNITAID on Monday, dismissed this argument at the news conference, saying the tiny levy involved was unlikely to deter anyone.In France, the tax amounts to one euro ($1.26) a ticket on a domestic or European economy class flight and four euros on a business or first class seat. These figures are multiplied by four for transcontinental journeys.In all, 44 countries have joined the pilot group that set up UNITAID, which will operate out of the U.N.'s World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva and aims through bulk ordering to buy vital medicines at low cost.Its declared aim is to bring about a reduction in the price of medications and to encourage drug companies to develop new treatments by ensuring competition among them for its custom.Some 90 percent of new cases of AIDS -- which kills 3 million people a year including 570,000 children -- are in developing countries where few can afford the drugs. Malaria kills between 1 and 3 million people a year, mainly in Africa. - Reuters
So what if the tax is only 1 Euro (5 Euros for trans-Atlantic flights.) They are still taking it from you instead of asking. The UN has been wanting to directly tax citizens for a while now and it seems they are using this route to do it. It might only be one Euro now, but as we all know taxes normally only go up. How long until some UN bureaucrat has a presentation or 'White Paper' on all the good that they can do if the tax is raised to only 2 Euros. Eventually all these taxes do add up.
Anyway, nobody asked me if I want to donate to help fund cheap drugs in the third world. Probably because my answer would be no, not one penny. It is not that I am a heartless bastard, so what if I am, but because it is not my responsibility to ensure that the third world receives cheap medicine. It is the responsibility of their own governments to look after them. Many do not because their leaders are corrupt and pocket the money that should be used to take care of their citizens. So now we have the UN come in and PAY BRIBES to these very same corrupt leaders so that they can be permitted to treat these people. This in effect perpetuates corrupt governments. And they want to use money taken from me in taxes to do it with. No thank you. How about forcing these leaders to act like they should?
Anyway, nobody asked me if I want to donate to help fund cheap drugs in the third world. Probably because my answer would be no, not one penny. It is not that I am a heartless bastard, so what if I am, but because it is not my responsibility to ensure that the third world receives cheap medicine. It is the responsibility of their own governments to look after them. Many do not because their leaders are corrupt and pocket the money that should be used to take care of their citizens. So now we have the UN come in and PAY BRIBES to these very same corrupt leaders so that they can be permitted to treat these people. This in effect perpetuates corrupt governments. And they want to use money taken from me in taxes to do it with. No thank you. How about forcing these leaders to act like they should?
Anyway, this is just a taste of what is coming in the near future. It is a shame and I believe very short sighted. Europe could actually reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by lowering taxes. As it is now, Alcohol is being shifted all around Europe to low tax jurisdictions so that citizens from high tax jurisdictions, like Finland, the UK, and Norway, can travel and purchase cheap alcohol and return it back to their home. Many Finns travel to Sweden solely to purchase alcohol while on the ship. Many never even leave the vessel when it's in Stockholm. They also travel to Germany, taking the van or trailer with them to stock up with cases of booze. Yes, it's that bad, and it is contributing to global warming. What a waste.
Alcohol is not the only item moved around Europe creating greenhouse gases. The European Parliament itself moves between Brussels and Strasbourg every month:
Update: 9 December 2006
Tobin tax - Wikipedia
Zero Tuomioja and the Tobin Tax - Finland for Thought
Air fares 'to double' as Europe votes for green tax - Times Online - 5 July 06Alcohol is not the only item moved around Europe creating greenhouse gases. The European Parliament itself moves between Brussels and Strasbourg every month:
Moving various files and equipment between the two cities takes 10 large trucks and the costs for two locations are estimated at € 200 million a year. A force of 30 men loads the trucks for the 400 km journey between the two locations. Around 5,000 people attached to the European Parliament, such as parliamentarians, advisors, clerks and journalists, also move between Brussels and Strasbourg. - WikipediaFace it, none of these taxes is really being proposed to fight greenhouse gases or even to help the poor in the third-world. They are just being imposed to take more money from you for the purpose of sustaining big government.
Update: 9 December 2006
Take the Tobin Tax. This is a proposed tax that in effect would limit the possibility of currency traders speculating in the currency markets.
The Tobin tax is an almost deceptively simple idea: a tax levied on every currency change, set on a low enough level not be a hindrance on any transactions needed to finance real trade in goods and services or long-term capital investment but high enough to discourage the bulk of destabilising speculative money movements. Given the vast amount of daily currency transactions - almost 1500 billion dollars - a tax of just 0.1 percent could generate more income than the total amount of official development aid from the industrialised to the less-developed countries. The introduction of a Currency Transaction Tax could, at a stroke, solve all the problems of development financing. - Erkki Tuomioja Blog
Of course the tax would be applied to every transaction, not just large ones. After all, you can't rake in the big bucks unless you take a slice of the pie out of every transactions. It's kind of like those scams where they only plan to steal the part that would have been rounded away. (Office Space, Superman, etc.) Then again, numbers are sometimes are rounded up. The fact that you round both up and down makes it neutral to the person who is effected by the rounding. Sometimes you win, and sometimes not. In the case of the Tobin tax both the sending and the recipient are penalized. the sending by raising his cost to send the funds. The recipient in that his product has now become more expensive.
Tobin tax - Wikipedia
Zero Tuomioja and the Tobin Tax - Finland for Thought
Green tax on holidays and food splits Labour - Times Online
Nations rally to air travel "medicines" tax- France - Reuters
Airlines Hit By EU's CO2 Emissions Plan - Business Weekly
French promise revenge for not signing protocol - Sydney Morning Herald
Hopping Mad Over French Sneer - Sunday Telegraph
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