26 Ekim 2005The Asahi Shimbun
The average household will be paying about 2,100 yen more a year in taxes to combat global warming if a plan proposed Tuesday by the Environment Ministry is approved.
The ministry wants the new tax in place by January 2007 and is forecasting annual tax revenues of about 370 billion yen.
The tax would cover coal, fuel oil, kerosene and fuel used in electric-power generation-all energy sources that produce carbon dioxide, the key ingredient in global warming.
For the time being, the tax would exempt gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel because of the current high prices for crude oil.
The basic tax rate being proposed is 2,400 yen for every ton of carbon contained in fossil fuels.
The plan will be presented to the environment committees of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. Ministry officials are seeking to include the proposal in tax system changes to be compiled at the end of the year.
The Environment Ministry put together a similar proposal last year, but it included gasoline. That plan was shot down by the government's Tax Commission even though commission members agreed a tax was needed to help the government achieve its goals in cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.(IHT/Asahi: October 26,2005)
