green fiscal commission

Welcome

The Launch of the Final Report of the Green Fiscal Commission
After over two years of work, the Green Fiscal Commission launched its final report to widespread media coverage on Monday 26th October in the Macmillan Room of Portcullis House.

Speakers included Professor Paul Ekins (GFC), Lord Adair Turner, Greg Barker MP (Conservative), Chris Huhne MP (Liberal Democrats), and Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour).

Please email Ben Watson for more information.

Read the final report

Welcome to the website of the Green Fiscal Commission. The Commission was publicly launched on 14 November 2007 and has looked in detail at the whole range of issues surrounding green taxes and environmental tax reform (ETR). The Commission’s work has covered four broad areas:

How green taxes/ ETR works
The environmental, economic and social implications of ETR
Attitudes to green taxes and ETR
Communication of our findings.

The focus of the Commission’s work has been greening the UK tax system - that is moving taxes from ‘goods’ like labour, to ‘bads’ like environmental damage. The key to a green tax shift is that it is revenue neutral – tax cuts on ‘goods’ must be balanced by equivalent tax increases on ‘bads’.

The Commission does not have a view on what level of overall taxation is appropriate but considers that a significant shift from taxing ‘goods’ to ‘bads’ could make a important contribution to the cost-effective resolution of environmental problems.

The Commission is an independent body, is not affiliated to any political party and has aimed to examine the evidence impartially. Our results have been made public to encourage debate in this area.