Redirecting existing levels of expenditures to avoid waste or setting new priorities are not the only way to finance climate change. Many ideas are on the table for raising new revenue. They are based on the notion that the earth's oceans and atmosphere are common resources, and that all citizens of the planet have rights and responsibilities over them. It is already accepted that if you take your garbage to a landfill site, you will be charged a tipping fee. Therefore, if a country uses the atmosphere for waste disposal, should it not pay a global environmental tax?

The European Union is currently studying a proposal for an air fuels tax to raise funds for environmental projects. Martens and Paul (article #4) suggest such a tax could be a practical starting point for a global carbon tax, since the consumption of aircraft fuel is relatively easy to monitor. The revenue from such a tax could go directly to the United Nations Environment Programme, which urgently needs new sources of funding. Another proposal is for a tax on currency trading, an idea which won the support of Francois Mitterrand when he was president of France.

Many practical issues concerning the accountability and administration of global taxes need to be resolved, and there are some national governments that fear losing revenues, or are concerned such taxes will become slush funds and the money wasted. In the U.S., for example, Congress has passed legislation that makes it illegal for the United States to participate in any global taxes.

While there is strong opposition, in principle the concept of a global environmental tax would finally recognize in international law that dumping toxic materials in the oceans or greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is not "free" and that there are real long-term costs which our children will have to pay. "If the tax idea is to succeed, it must have the confidence and support of ordinary citizens," conclude Martens and Paul. "For this, there must be more democratic... bodies at the global level. But planning must go forward... and political backing must now be assembled. No solution to the crisis of development finance is more promising than this one." [taxes to pay for global pollution]

Word Watch
	carbon tax n. tax by governments on the use of carbon-containing fuels More in Word Watch Glossary
In Depth
	Cornwell, Antonia and John Creedy. Environmental taxes and economic welfare: reducing carbon dioxide emissions. New horizons in environmental economics. Lyme, NH: Edward Elgar, 1997. 152 p. More in Hot Topic Bibliography
Virtual Ideas
	The Tobin Tax Setting eco-taxes More in Hot Topic Bibliography

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