Isra-Mart srl : Half of shoppers support carbon tax on harmful products

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Isra-Mart srl news:

A carbon tax on environmentally damaging products could have popular support, a survey released today indicates.

According to the survey of 2,000 people from environmental consultancy AEA, 51 per cent agreed that products that cause particular harm to the environment, either directly or through emissions associated with long-distance transport, should carry an additional green levy.

Public backing for a carbon tax could represent good news for the coalition government, which has promised to increase the percentage of green taxes raised by the Treasury, but is yet to lay down any clear proposals on how this might be achieved.

A Treasury spokesman admitted the government would consider a tax on environmentally damaging goods, but said a great deal of research would need to be done before it could be implemented – not least into the tricky process of calculating how damaging a product was.

"It's an interesting idea, a welcome thought to the debate, but it needs a lot of work," he said.

Patrick Stevens, tax partner at Ernst & Young, said the government could look to increase the cost of carbon intensive products by either introducing a carbon tax on air and road transport or developing an entirely new regime where products are taxed at the point they are sold based on their environmental footprint.

But he cautioned that while the public may be in favour of additional taxes as an abstract idea, they are less likely to be supportive when money is coming out of their pockets.

"If I said 'do you think it would be a good idea to tax something bad for the environment to improve the environment?' I think most people would tick the 'yes' box," he said. "But if I ask 'would you double the price of the car you're buying to improve the environment?' I think far less than 51 per cent would be in favour."

Stevens also argued that introducing a polluter-pays policy on damaging products would prove a regressive tax, hitting the poorest hardest, and would be of little use in addressing the UK's yawning deficit on the grounds that successful green taxes deter people from undertaking polluting activities and therefore produce less revenue the more successful they become.

The survey also revealed that 81 per cent of people would be more likely to buy local goods if product labels showed air miles or country of origin, while almost half said they preferred to purchase food from companies with a good environmental reputation.

Around 30 per cent agreed they were more likely to buy from shops or businesses with good environmental reputations, although almost 40 per cent said they did not have a preference.

That so many respondents ignored the economic slowdown and put environmental concerns ahead of price surprised Gwen Ventris, chief operating officer at AEA, who urged businesses to take note of changing consumer demands.

"This survey has thrown up some fascinating results – the fact that even during a downturn, so many people support the idea of a carbon tax for products that are particularly harmful to the environment is remarkable," she said. "The British public is actively taking the sustainability agenda on board and is sending a clear message to businesses to do the same."

However, these findings contradict research released earlier this week by consumer magazine Which? that suggested ethics and the environment were relatively low priorities for purchasers.