Wychavon Tories Reject Calls For Green Taxation

5.50.27am GMT Wed 8th Nov 2006

Wychavon Tories have rejected calls for a switch to green taxation proposed by Liberal Democrat councillors.

In a motion to Tuesday's [7 November] council meeting, Liberal Democrats asked the Council to support moves to shift taxation from income to pollution. They wanted to see an increase in taxation on aircraft and on large new vehicles such as 4x4s, based on carbon emissions.

The motion, originated by Councillors Margaret Rowley (Bowbrook) and Charles Tucker (Pershore), called on the council to support measures to increase tax on pollution, including an aircraft tax based on emissions from the aircraft; introduce more steeply graduated vehicle excise duties for new vehicles, again based on carbon emissions; and replace the unfair council tax with a local income tax based on the ability to pay

Councillor Charles Tucker said "There is now widespread recognition that climate change is here to stay, and government needs to act very soon to halt the damage brought about by fast rising global temperatures. Wychavon can help by supporting these proposals, which would see substantial reductions in personal taxation for people who live a green lifestyle."

"The Stern Report published last week has shown that unless decisive action is taken within the next 10-20 years, the global costs arising from climate change will soar. Britain itself could face huge costs, partly from dealing with migrants from poorer countries where agricultural production will collapse."

After the meeting Charles Tucker added "The Tories at national level talk about supporting green taxation to combat climate change, but this obviously hasn't filtered down to Wychavon. One Cabinet member denied that carbon emissions were causing global warming, while another said that discussing it was a waste of time and energy!"