How Taxes Could Save the Planet | Jeff Saviano | TEDxBeaconStreet

let's face it nobody likes taxes right nobody I want to change your perception about taxes what if I told you that tax policies can help stop bad things from happening like climate change while you think about that I want to tell you a story about a tax activist named Barbara Anderson I'm so inspired by activists like Barbara they have this great passion for an issue that can directly affect public policy even if you don't agree with their policies how about you can appreciate like I do how they affect change through this tremendous grit and determination that they have Barbara was a tax crusader from the late 70s early 80s from right here in Massachusetts I'm so sorry to say she passed away earlier this year she was the leader for over 30 years of this organization called citizens for limited taxation anybody ventured guess what they were all about she was part of a new group of activists at the time who are passionate about keeping taxes low in 1979 property taxes here were out of control they were amongst the highest in the nation Barbara decided to do something about it she had this idea to cut property taxes and it came at a time when homeowners in the state which is desperate for some kind of support so she took this idea to the legislature where a hundred and forty six members of the House of Representatives voted against her bill and only five voted for it the bill wasn't just defeated it was annihilated it would have produced a massive tax cut removing about a billion and a half dollars out of state coffers that's four and half billion in today's dollars it was controversial it pitted homeowners and businesses against labor unions but that's not surprising because tax activism is by its nature controversial government needs revenue to fund critical services and let's be honest we all have an opinion about who should pay for it usually we think it's somebody else right welcome back to Barbara and the rest of her story I was in law school when I first learned about the importance of tax policy I remember one night I was studying in the library which just happened to be a couple of steps away from our Sports Arena big college sports arena with a really thin domed roof in the library I'm working through this tough tax problem while the Rolling Stones were playing next door and you could hear every song it's like they'll playing right in the library I remember thinking huh all my buddies are next door watching the stones and Here I am studying tax policy that was the night I found my calling and my passion for tax policy found that night I guess you could say it's my own beast of burden I said at the outset this talk is about climate change let me be clear though I am NOT your climate change expert there have been hundreds of talks and reports by climate scientists and others well before me who have all established what a big problem this is we know this is true now right some would even say this is undeniable we've all heard about the massive issues that result from just a 2 degree Celsius increase in global warmth that's it two degrees and amazingly despite the enormity of this problem we have yet to find a global solution to climate change we're desperate we need some kind of a new innovative approach well it just happens to be one place one place that may have just figured it out found a way to significantly mitigate climate change the Canadian province of British Columbia in 2008 its political leaders decided to impose a tax on carbon to help prevent climate change what does that mean what is carbon well when those fuels that produce harmful greenhouse gases when they're purchased or used in British Columbia their text that tax is kind of like the sales tax that you and I pay on a television or a piece of furniture except this tax had a unique feature to it it didn't raise overall tax receipts in the province it's my kind of tax but how was that possible well the government realized they were smart the government realized in order for the residents to accept this new tax all the revenue raised had to be given back to the people and that's what they did since this tax began they have collected five billion dollars five billion dollars of carbon tax receipts and they've given it all and then some back to the residents by cutting other taxes so eight years later what have we learned about this tax greenhouse gas emissions in the province are actually down 6.1 percent interesting what about the rest of Canada they're up three and a half percent how about those horrible fossil fuels consumption of fossil fuels that's down a whopping 16% 16% and the rest of Canada is up three percent these are statistically significant differences the tax is working people's behavior and habits changed they cut the reliance on fossil fuels to avoid the tax I think that's brilliant right opponents of the tax were worried they were worried it would stifle the British Columbia economy well economic growth in the province is actually outpaced the rest of Canada since the tax began and what about the politicians usually they don't do well after imposing new big taxes they did okay the Liberal Party that put the tax in place actually won a rare third consecutive term the year after the tax began but most importantly I really mean this most importantly how did the people feel about it taxes are all about the people how did the people feel about this tax fifty four percent of the people in British Lum BIA approved it at the time it was enacted and that is now since risen to 60% when have you heard of attacks becoming more popular right that just doesn't happen as a matter of fact in two short months in the neighboring province of Elba Alberta they're imposing a carbon tax modeled after you guessed it British Columbia Prime Minister Trudeau has pledged to introduce the entire tax across all of Canada beginning in 2018 two economists and Tax Policy geeks like me though this is not overly surprising I think Ronald Reagan said it best if you want more of something subsidize it if you want less of something tax it so that's the British Columbia story the question is how do you reduce those harmful greenhouse gas emissions I think the answer is simple you tax them taxes are actually a very effective way to influence behavior think about tobacco smoking many governments have discouraged smoking by taxing cigarettes the higher the tax price of cigarettes goes up some people smoke less some people even stop altogether so what the government's do they keep raising cigarette taxes I don't smoke but a pack of cigarettes has to cost like $1,000 now right here's one more example are you worried about the health of your children some local governments are they're imposing taxes on soda yeah kids that's right soda they're worried about the obesity epidemic tax it will buy less of it and the government thinks our kids will be better off in the long run as a matter of fact two weeks ago on election day for new soda taxes approved by voters across this country so if taxes on cigarettes and soda help stop smoking and drinking those sugary beverages tax and carbon should help the planet right unfortunately though the solution is not that simple if every government around the world tax carbon we would avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change but they don't how can we replicate this british columbia solution around the world let's start here first in the US sure it would be efficient to have a single national tax but that would mean that the President and Congress would all have to agree to it that just doesn't seem feasible at the moment does it there are similar obstacles in state government too we need some other kind of path forward okay I promised you we would return to Barbara and the rest of her story when we last left Barbara she was soundly defeated by the legislature but she didn't give up she got her idea directly on a November ballot and brought it right to the people we call that direct democracy citizen lawmaking and what happened 59% of the voters approved her idea into law the same idea that was annihilated by the legislature these ballot measures can be an important check and balance on a representative form of government they are like a safety valve of sorts think of it like an open source government a device to be used when our elected officials are well unresponsive to an issue or if the legislature is hopelessly gridlocked by partisan politics does that ring a bell Barbara didn't have a law degree she didn't have any special government training to do what she did in fact her only certification was from the YMCA as a lifeguard she was an ordinary citizen just like us it was the way in which she circumvented the legislative process by bringing an issue right to the people I think that can be an important piece of our climate change puzzle but in order to really affect climate change we know we're gonna need to have a heavy dose of innovation we typically think of innovation as that new product that's changing our lives but innovation is about much more than that and it's happening all around us innovation is about connecting the unconnected how can we connect disparate things to create something entirely new what if we connected carbon taxation with tax activism and ballot initiatives how could that Union positively affect climate change well what we do know is that a single activist a single activist like Barbara in a single state it's just not going to be enough but did you know there are 24 states that permit ballot initiatives just imagine just imagine if 24 tax Crusaders introduced a carbon tax in each of those states implementing a carbon tax at the state level will require grassroots campaigning and plenty of time to get ready we would need to do three things we would need to inspire and attract others towards this great cause we would need to collect a lot of signatures and I mean a lot of signatures by state residents in support and we would have to spread the word about this ballot measure maybe through some kind of a social media fueled uprising something like the ice bucket challenge for example something for people to rally behind would this be easy no this wouldn't be easy but it is achievable make no mistake this has never been done before never has a single issue than taking to the voters in all 24 states that permit direct democracy other issues like legalizing marijuana or same-sex marriage have been on the ballot in a handful of states but never anything close to the 24 that permit ballot initiatives and that is the power of this idea residents of nearly half of our states coming together and addressing a single important issue like this on a single Election Day would create a referendum on climate change in this country that we have never seen before but you may be asking how can 24 you States possibly make a dent on this global climate change problem well history tells us there's something called the tipping point of Taxation great government ideas that work spread really fast to other governments especially tax ideas they'd love to borrow great ideas from each other these 24 states would influence other states and eventually who knows maybe even the federal government maybe someday we could have a national carbon tax and why stop there other countries permit direct democracy maybe this approach could work there too I'll leave you with this we know we must change our behavior to curb climate change taxes influence our behavior and we can influence the tax laws taxes demonstrate what we value they can be a tool for social change the device that allows generations to live on this planet thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 8,226

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, United States, Global Issues, Climate Change, Government

Id: Qy2Q8QpmPyY

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2016