The Rural Voice, 1993-05, Page 37deals with: (1) What role should
environmental considerations play in
a fair tax system? (2) What is the
role of taxes and/or tax expenditures
in achieving the government's
environmental objectives? (3) What
environmental tax options could best
improve the fairness of the tax system
as it relates to environmental
objectives?
The Environment and Taxation
Working Group Paper states:
"Exemptions and refunds are
provided for some inputs that may be
harmful to the environment,
especially when misused. Diesel and
gasoline fuel are subject to tax
exemptions or refunds, and farm
inputs such as nitrogen fertilizers and
chemical pesticides are exempt from
sales tax. In addition, farmers get a
retail sales tax exemption on drainage
systems, which, when applied to
certain wetlands, have negative
environmental consequences." (p. 41)
This Working Group proposes
putting a tax on chemicals such as
fertilizers and pesticides to
discourage use. As an alternative to
taxing these products, the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food has
implemented an educational program
"Food Systems 2002". The goal is to
reduce the use of agricultural
pesticides by 50 per cent by the year
2002.
The Environment and Taxation
Working Group also believes that
eliminating the gas rebates on
gasoline and diesel would lead to the
reduction of amount of fossil fuels
used. Group members were
concerned about the effects of
draining farmlands and the
subsequent effect on wetlands,
woodlands, and streams.
"The group suggests a general
direction towards net income
stabilization and away from
commodity -based stabilization. A
more environmentally sound option
that the group also endorses is to base
financial support for individual farms
on some measure of environmental
stewardship (like Land Stewardship
Programs)." (p. 47)
Wayne McCausland states: "The
two burning issues that we as the
Grey/Bruce Tax Force consider most
important are the property tax
assessment issue and the environment
issue. There are other issues
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