Mindzle

Posts Tagged ‘stealth tax’

The world has officially gone mad. As we are grinding into the worst economic slump for a century, simple things like heating bills are going up and up.There are also significant health risks for pensioners and low income families. During the big temperature freezes of the past winter, it was they who needed to keep warm the most. Yet they are increasingly unable to pay their rising gas bills to stay warm.

“Green Energy” is something repeated daily by the government and huge energy companies alike. It is hyped up as the answer to all our troubles. And who would argue with the idea of saving some money and saving the planet. With this mantra on their lips, they win votes and build wind farms, supposedly for our benefit.

However the latest initiative by the UK government reveals the truth behind this egalitarian rhetoric. The plan is called the “Renewable Heating Incentive”, and aims to construct a large number of wind farms and solar energy facilities to reduce reliance on fast depleting and environmentally unfriendly fossil fuel sources. Now you’d think that the responsibility for paying for these developments would land at the feet of global energy giants – but you’d be wrong. It is going to be the bill payer who has to pay for this! The plan aims to charge a levy to energy providers using fossil fuels. The big friendly energy company, however, is planning on paying for this cost by increasing home gas and electric costs.

Electricty prices increased by 26% over the last year, and gas prices by 59%. This meant that millions had to think twice about switching on their portable heaters. In the midst of increasing poverty, the “go green” banner has been used as a solution for families to ease hardship by paying less for energy bills. However if this idea is brought in it will harm precisely those who are struggling. Essentially what this will mean is that those with more secure and higher incomes will be the ones who can afford to switch to green energy sources for their homes. But if you can’t, and resort to using fan heaters or oil filled radiators to warm your house when the temperatures drop, you’ll be hit with higher energy bills. This will be the case even with the proposed low interest loans being offered to carry out the work. It’s unlikely that a family that is already struggling to pay their gas and electic, not to mention interest on existing debts, will be willing to take on more debt, whetever the interest rate may be. One thing we learned from the introduction of student loans, at the time touted as a measure to make university more accessible to lower income families, is that only the middle classes are prepared to put themselves in such debt on top of everything else.

I ask you, is that right? Far better would be taxing the energy companies directly and getting hold of a tiny fraction of their trillions of dollars of profit.They could then use this significant sum to subsidise green refubishment on lower income houses, so that they can benefit from reduced heating bills. It would be great to hear what people think about this issue.