Development Minister Calls for a Price on Carbon
Development Minister Ziga Turk believes the proposal of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to lower VAT on fuel should not be entirely discarded. Yet a reduction should be accompanied by higher taxation of other products that contribute to carbon emissions, which in effect means taxing all emissions of greenhouse gases.
Writing in an op-ed in Wednesday's edition of the business newspaper Finance entitled "An Inconvenient Truth about Petrol Prices", Minister Turk dismisses the indignation of environmentalists about Sarkozy's proposal to lower taxes on fuel.
Emissions are presently taxed very differently: the same amount of greenhouse gases from transport cost around 15 times as much as the ones created by electricity production, and 30 times as much as emissions from cattle farming, he points out.
According to Turk, politicians should take plans to stop global warming seriously by putting a uniform price on greenhouse gases and a unified lower tax on petrol. Industry, science and consumers will thus operate on equal terms and will be able to choose where they can cut their emissions more effectively.
This would mean higher prices for electricity, heating, meat and cheese, while wheat, fruit, vegetables, computers, and internet will all be cheaper, Turk explains.
People will be able to choose themselves whether to save money by wearing an extra sweater in the Winter, by driving less, by investing into a wooden house or by giving up a steak or two, the minister adds.
The way to cool down the planet is by giving greenhouse gases a unified price, but coupled with many other measures, he concludes.
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