green tax

Proposed tax to be levied against companies and individuals causing pollution. For example, a company emitting polluting gases would be obliged to pay a correspondingly significant tax; a company that cleans its emissions, reduces its effluent and uses energy-efficient distribution systems, would be taxed much less.

The idea is often criticized for relying on coercion rather than moral responsibility, but remains high on the political agenda, not least because of the mixed success of anti-pollution legislation (for example the Clean Air Act).

This practice of using financial rather than primarily legal measures to help the environment has been tried in several US communities: when bin-liners were priced at $1.50 each, the volume of household waste fell dramatically.