GREEN TAXATION AND THE 1999 BUDGET

Early day motion 14, tabled 24 November 1998 by David Chaytor (Labour). Signed by 38 members.

That this House recognises that the Government has made some progress in moving towards an environmentally sustainable basis for taxation; notes that the extension of green taxation offers the opportunity for significant reductions in taxes on employment and labour, that a green taxation policy would serve to increase levels of employment through the incentives given to the development of environmental technologies, that green taxes are frequently cheaper to collect and more difficult to avoid than many conventional taxes, that green taxes are essentially progressive and enable government to deliver the triple objectives of (a) meeting greenhouse gas emissions targets, (b) the conservation of natural resources for future generations and (c) the redistribution of power and wealth within and across generations; and calls on the Government to move speedily to extend the existing range of taxes in the 1999 Budget, with commensurate reductions in levels of conventional taxation, particularly with respect to industrial energy, transport, landfill, housing development, quarrying, pesticides and conservation of water supplies.

Signatures by party: Labour 31, Labour/Co-operative 3, Liberal Democrat 3, Plaid Cymru 1.