Pollution Tax

As of right now, taxes miss opportunities to clean up the environment (William Gale, brookings.edu, 2005).  The taxes currently put in place only incentivise companies to over produce product with little punishment for failing our enironment as well as stifle incentives to create cleaner technologies. With more direct pollution taxes people will begin to realize the price for ruining our environment and begin to second guess themselves when using products that don't protect our environment. Some might say raising the prices through taxation won't stop people from using the products; however, increasing the prices might make people realize their is potentially a safer and cleaner option for the environment.

Many believe an increase in pollution tax benefits the environment. The pollution tax (ecotax) is used on activities considered to be harmful to the environment. The reason for this tax is simply to promote more environmentally friendly options and reward those through economic incentives such as not paying the pollution tax (environmental taxation guide, oecd.org, 2011). However, today more than 249 million people in the united states rely on cars or a gasoline-fed form of transportation. By increasing the pollution tax on gasoline it will leave more people struggling to afford cars which overall negatively effects the economy. If people are unable to afford transportation to things like jobs then this becomes a big issue for the economy. In conclusion, an argument made against raising pollution taxes is because so many people rely on this form of transportation, the rise in prices would only cause people hardships when trying to afford it (Tabitha Benney, scholars.org, 2019).

Should the government raise pollution taxes on gasoline. I don't think that is benefical. The bottomline is regardless of what new technologies are created people will still need gasoline for everyday mechanics. By increasing the prices they are only hurting the economy and making lower income families lives harder. Some people believe the increase will get people to realize their are cleaner options for the environment; however, I see it as more of an economic issue if the prices are increased and it isn't 100% clear that the price increase will really benefit the environment if people still choose to use gasoline.