it's like this...
It's not taxes which change behaviour, it's legislation.

It was 1970s US Government legislation which led to the airbag being pretty much mandatory these days, saving countless lives.

If Gordon were to force through a law tomorrow that all cars sold in the UK as of 2010 must emit less than 150g/km of CO2 then the car manufacturers would be forced to deal with it. Fuel consumption in the UK would have to fall ergo fewer carbon tonnes in the atmosphere.

However there's a flaw in that plan under scrutiny, tax revenues would also fall. Gordon would have to find some other captive audience to fund the Health and Safety/CCTV Utopia he wants.

You think the UK is carbon friendly? Notice how all the so called "traffic calming" schemes of the 1990s have bottlenecked stop/start traffic, which is about as environmentally unfriendly as road travel gets. Heathrow gets a new terminal, Stansted gets a new runway to cater for the latest generation of super Jumbo Jets burning tens of tons of fuel at a time.

Meanwhile, legislation exists in Britain today to prevent bus and train companies offering an integrated timetable.

It's deliberate policy to force tax revenues up. It's no longer about the environment or saving the planet, it's about making a quick buck from a captive audience. As long as public transport (rapidly escalating in cost) remains shoddy, people will have to drive and the greedy government gets its' fill.

Meanwhile, more and more "green" propaganda is forced down our throats to play on our guilt.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 6 May 2008, 22:40, Reply)