Natural Resource Taxation,NRT.

Natural Resource Taxation

Natural Resource Taxation ,NRT, is a new form of taxation where all Natural Resources are taxed according to the environmental damage they cause by their extraction and or use by all aspects of human activity.

The Natural Resource Taxation  should be collected as close to the sources of initial extraction or use, and based on the amount of damage they do to the  environment and ecosystems.

The Natural Resource Taxation is aimed at replacing nearly all existing taxes with aim of ensuring everybody in the chain of consumerism is made responsible for their own footprint upon the earth by paying the NRT that is due via all purchases made.

 Natural Resource Taxation  is a very efficient way of tax collection , as it is collected  as near to source as possible , i.e. well head , landowner, mining and oil companies. and is not dependant on all let out clauses and tax breaks . Every Natural Resource would be taxed in some way as as the tax is then passed down the chain of manufacture or use, the cost is then  borne directly by the final consumer who pays in the final product or service they receive.
The higher the price of the end product , the dirtier it is in environmental terms, as it will have attracted a higher proportion of the NRT .
This taxation replaces all existing taxes and as such everyone who  buys within the taxation zone will all pay the tax accordingly and everyone would be treated equally and without favour unlike the present system which is full of exemptions and cause fraud evasion and avoidance.

The effect of NRT is that all goods and services will rise according to their ingredient mix of components extracted from Natural Resources.

The result of having a much more effective tax collection system that is less prone to tax evasion, avoidance and fraud; the  overall tax take may be reduced considerably over time.

Individuals may have to pay an NRT on land based on the size of house they own and there may also be tax for services like roads which occupy large swathes of land.  maybe collected like  council tax and road tax employed in the UK .

All taxes would be based on the degradation of the land upon which they use , the principle behind this is that all land would attract the NRT  because of the degradation caused by the infrastructure built upon it , or through use of the land that  is far removed from its natural state.

Agriculture would also attract NRT , dependant on how much the soil has been degraded from its natural wild state which has abundant micro flora and diversified species of plants and animals.

Taxation of Water and Air are more problematic , and may be introduced  initially to speed up change by industry and indeed everyone to move to new forms of heating, transportation, etc etc. The NRT on Air and Water  is the stick to enforce the change to move to a sustainable future to happen quickly and as we have seen with EXXON and BP.

 Banks have paid huge sums for mistakes made  that affect people , but should also extend to include ecosystems and environment, such as financing of palm oil and mono cropping on huge scales, that destroy rainforests and other delicate ecosystems.

The financial sector has a huge role to play , and as such should be held accountable for actions taken by their clients and far more due diligence should occur, as it is no different than the banks bankrolling the slave trade of the past, and as we see with SHELL withdrawing from the artic exploration , may in some way be a response from shareholders and financial institutions to the liabilities that may be in store if anything goes wrong as well as keeping the oil in the ground.

Why should large corporations be any different to anyone else in paying their taxes , in fact it could be argued that they should pay more than individuals , as they often determine what the consumer consumes  and  the subsequent damage to the planet through the decision they make all through their actions from concept,design, manufacture, sources of parts and resources employed, right through to marketing and final sales, They also have a large say on the longevity of the products they make and how easy they are to reuse, recycle and the effects of all these actions have upon the planet.