Carrot and Stick / Green Tax Shift

Once we have measurements in place and we know where the problems are, we need to begin correcting them as quickly as possible. This will be done through a carrot and stick approach. The Green Party often calls this a Green Tax Shift. It is not true taxation. Taxation is something that never goes away. This is a system of rewards and penalties. The penalties will take the form of polluter pay policies where polluting businesses will be charged for the damages they are doing and the clean up required. The carrot or rewards will take many forms like low interest loans, tax credits and even some capital investment.

Both the rewards and penalties will be structured so that they will be phased out. There will be no money collected on a polluter pay system when there are no more polluters. There will be no additional incentive to transition to a sustainable technology if all of the technology is sustainable.

This is a necessary step but it is also part of the just transition. We need to start to make changes immediately but that change needs to be managed. There need to be ways for people to move from where they are now to where they need to be.