Tax activities that do harm...

Blimey! Comment in The Financial Times, 9 June, in response to Ming Campbell's recent speech on the Lib Dems proposed taxation policy over the next few years:

"... it is good to see tax policy go beyond the tired question of whether tax should go up or down. The Liberal Democrats deserve praise for this. Even better, the rough shape of the new policy makes good sense.

"The Financial Times strongly supports the principle of environmental taxes. It is far better to raise revenue by taxing activities that do harm, such as burning fuel, than taxing hard work. The Liberal Democrats propose higher taxes on air travel, and taxes based on the emissions of aircraft rather than on the number of passengers. That makes sense. ...

"The main messages of simplification and green taxation are welcome. So is emphasis on the best way to raise taxes, rather than how high they should be. The Liberal Democrats have not worked out the answers. They have asked the right questions."

This response is to the proposed switch in our taxation policy away from taxing things that we like - like income - and onto taxing things we don't like - like pollution. Make creating pollution more expensive and you both raise your income from it, and create a real motivator for people and companies to look at ways of becoming more environmentally friendly. Much of the push for this move to green taxes is coming from Chris Huhne, who proposed many of these policies during his leadership campaign, winning him a great deal of support in doing so.

Positive comment from the FT like this on Lib Dem policy is not unheard of, but is certainly rare. That the Party is picking up positive press comment like this is a good sign - although I'll be even more impressed when we start getting positive comment out of the tabloids as well!

On green issues, the Lib Dems are really making an impact: including standing up against a new generation of new Nuclear power stations and questioning the renewal (at the cost of £25 billion or so!) of our nuclear deterrent. We need to be getting this message to people directly, and ensure its related to our local campaigning as well - a challenge I hope we'll rise to as the May 2007 local elections approach.