This BBC Article highlights that the UK industry managed to cause £11.7bn of damage in 2006-2007 financial year and the UK government raised £21.9bn. Obviously not all the revenue from green taxes went to fixing the environment!
This is similar to the road taxation system where the current system raises way in excess of what is required to maintain the roads and deal with the environmental impact.
Such a shame and such a waste. I am sure if they took all our earnings in tax they would not be able to run the country effectively!
I was a bit confused by the government's response at the end. I suppose the logic is that if the taxes simply covered the costs, it wouldn't be enough to discourage pollution, so they've had to raise them beyond cost-covering levels. It's not like the extra money disappears from the economy anyway: they spend it again on schools, pensions, public transport etc.
Or give it away to kids to doss about in school, or people with fake disabilities, or keeping people sitting around doing nothing whilst still giving them the opportunity to get the latest plasma screen tv, sky plus and a brand new computer. . . .
