Having carbon taxes fund Universal Basic Income schemes would align the fights against inequality and climate change

At least in the 1980s (I do not know of the before and after) high European taxes on gas (petrol) were defended by the need to protect the environment, while at the same time, at least in Germany and Spain, the much dirtier coal was being subsidized. And the resulting tax revenues are of course huge.

Stephen Foley writes about how investors should adapt their exposures to fossil fuels given all declarations of war against climate change. ”Even oil barons are giving up on fossil fuels”, April 4.

But the taxman needs also to adapt. If we consume less gas/petrol tax revenues will go down, so it is not farfetched to think that those hungry for tax revenues to manage, will again exploit the environmental argument to increase taxes… though they must know that puts their tax revenues on a sort of unsustainable path.

I believe though that climate change is best fought on its own merit, which means keeping the climate change profiteers, whether private or governments, at far distance.

In my own country Venezuela, as a tool to get rid of monstrously large gas subsidies, I have been proposing that all the net income the government derives from the domestic sale of gas, should be paid out in equal parts to all citizens, so as to keep the redistribution profiteers at bay.

And if the whole world did the same, using carbon taxes as a fundamental source of income to pay for a Universal Basic Income, that would not only help to increase fiscal transparency, but also beautifully align the fight against inequality with the fight against climate change.