Tory plan for business carbon tax
November 27, 2006
The Conservatives are planning a carbon tax on British businesses to persuade them to reduce their emissions, shadow chancellor George Osborne has said.
The party says the proposal would raise more revenue than the existing climate change levy.
Any extra money would be returned to businesses through other tax cuts.
Money currently raised under the levy is returned through subsidising energy-saving investments and national insurance reductions.
The climate change levy was introduced in April 2001 to cut emissions from business.
Companies can often recoup the money through the energy they save and can also avoid the levy by using renewable energy - but not nuclear energy.
The BBC's economics editor, Evan Davis, says the levy raises less than £1bn per year, and that this new proposal is the first substantive proposal by the Conservatives for a new environmental tax.
He also says there are no plans by the Tories to tax households directly on their carbon emissions.
The Conservatives have said they want green taxes to form a higher proportion of all taxes, although they do not want the overall tax take to rise.
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