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There are all sorts of complex flows of money between local and central taxation and spending. It's not really relevant to my point which is that taxes being c
by derriz 5y ago
There are all sorts of complex flows of money between local and central taxation and spending.
It's not really relevant to my point which is that taxes being collected by consumers of fossil fuels in the UK are certainly NOT being sent to foreign countries to pay for the externalities of pumping CO2 in the air.
As a consumer of petrol in the UK, it's a mistake to think "I'm paying loads of petrol tax, so I'm paying for the externalities" when the money is being spent, one way or another in the UK. While the externalities are global.
- nicoburns 5y agoI think if we were looking at this from a "pure economics" point of view, we'd say that the theory of externalities isn't wrong. But that 1. The UK just hasn't priced it high enough. 2. If the UK does not spend the money raised on ameliorating the externality worldwide, then they have not cancelled out the externality as they might claim to have.