Appetite for change - Accountancy Nieuws

Section 4How can policies find support?The success with offsets in Denmark and Sweden occurredbefore the financial crisis. In this period of enormousgovernment deficits, it is probable that governments will needto increase taxes. The best chance for garnering businesssupport for new taxes is to combine them with either offsetsor some measure of hypothecation.Business executives are unlikelyto support environmental taxes...which are designed primarily to raisegeneral revenue.Figure 22Taxes are paid by many organisations, but effectiveness is felt to be lowVehicle Excise DutyFuel DutyLandfill TaxAir Passenger DutyClimate Change LevyCongestion ChargeAggregates LevyWhich of the following specific taxes are paid by your organisation?Base: UK only (50)Landfill Tax (38)86%84%76%66%64%52%8%18 29 37 16Climate Change Levy (32)25 22 47 6Business executives are unlikely to support environmentaltaxes, such as the UK’s air passenger duty (APD), whichare designed primarily to raise general revenue. In 2007UK business leaders rated the APD the least effectiveenvironmental tax, 18 and they remain sceptical today. Onlynine per cent of UK businesses currently believe the APD iseffective (see fig. 22 opposite). When increases in the APDwere announced recently, Willie Walsh, the chief executive ofBritish Airways, was quoted as saying: “The Government’sown figures show that British airlines already meet theirenvironmental costs, so there can be no ‘green’ justificationFuel Duty (42)Congestion Charge (26)Aggregates Levy (4)Vehicle Excise Duty (43)Air Passenger Duty (33)33 29 29 1038 31 31Not at all effectiveFairly effective75 2540 40 2158 33 6 3Not very effectiveVery effectiveHow effective do you feel the following specific taxes have been in changing yourorganisation’s environmental behaviour? Base: UK only (base sizes in brackets forthose paying each tax)18Saving the Planet 2007 - PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, UK32 Appetite for change. PricewaterhouseCoopers.