Thought for the Day, 1 November 2006

John Bell

I wonder whether, in the wake of the Sir Nicholas Stern's report on climate change, there might be a new mantra even in the minds of the nonreligious:

Lead us not into global warming,
but deliver us from green taxation.

Now the government, in concert with other political parties, suggests that to halt global warming, some form of green tax will need to be introduced... leading some commentators to accuse the Treasury of avarice.

This tendency to demonise tax (along with the promise of politicians in election years to deliver us from fiscal burdens) has to be challenged. To pay tax is not a penalty, it is a privilege if you can afford it... and most of us can. More than that, if it enables the hungry to be fed, the sick to be healed, the prisoners to be treated decently, then it is a gospel imperative to which Christians certainly should not object.

But when tax is used as a deterrent - to reduce alcohol abuse or CO₂ emissions, it is inequitable. We don't need expensive research projects to tell us that people bent on drinking excessively will risk poverty to buy liquor whatever the price. And those who have elevated car ownership to the status of a human right will always drive rather than walk to prove their liberty no matter the cost of petrol.

But more than that, the higher up the economic ladder you go, such taxes do not hurt. The executive who delights in corporate hospitality and insists on a Daimler will be much less affected by a green or an alcohol tax than the single mother who drives a mini and has one glass of rose a day.

Taxation is a partial and potentially unfair response. What we need is legislation which says, 'You can't do this.. even if you can afford it, because the world can't afford to subsidise your level of consumption.' Rationing got Britain through the war and what we are faced with now is something potentially more destructive than the all the conflicts of the 20th century put together.

But more than that, we have to foster the simple belief that being kind is a good thing. It's at the heart of all religions ...as when Jesus says, "There must be no limit to your goodness, since your heavenly Father's goodness knows no bounds."

To care for the earth, to share its resources, to limit our excesses, to pay equitable taxes... these things are not just necessary, they are good. And this is the era when, as never before, we have to act for goodness' sake.