IMF urges carbon taxes

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Monday the IMF wants to see countries implement heavy carbon taxes to “fight climate change.”

"We are very keen to give the biggest possible incentive for decarbonisation, which is putting a price on carbon. That price needs to go up, up, up if we are to speed up decarbonisation," she said at the UN COP28 climate summit.”

Georgieva also tried to justify carbon taxes by saying that they would raise revenues for governments.

“We are a huge proponent of carbon price,” she added. “We believe that carbon price has the potential of raising revenues in a way that is both equitable — because the more you consume, the more you pollute, the more you pay — and it is also an incentive to equalize decarbonization. In other words, you would need less money because of consumption and production adapting to it.”

The IMF chief’s view of the “climate crisis” as a cash cow is one shared by other governments around the world. In September, African countries signed the Nairobi Declaration which demanded wealthy nations impose a global carbon tax and forward the revenues to Africa.

But in countries where carbon taxes have been implemented, taxpayers are finding that bills are increasing though the climate is not improving.

Irish families, for example, are facing a 10% increase in energy bills following a government proposal to impose another carbon tax. The proposal comes after another carbon tax was already introduced in May, which increased the price per ton of fossil fuels by €7.50 ($8.18) to €48.50 ($52.81). 

In Canada, the Trudeau administration is forging ahead with plans to transition the country to “net zero” electricity despite admitting that it will be costly for taxpayers. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in May slammed the government’s “net zero” plans and told Albertans to expect a 40% increase in electricity bills.

Canadian taxpayers are already reeling from a carbon tax the Trudeau administration imposed in July to “protect the climate.”

Nevertheless, globalists are pushing ahead with international climate taxation. The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the United Nations have called on countries to implement carbon taxes.

In policy briefs published last month titled “Our Common Agenda,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said countries should impose “carbon pricing, fossil fuel taxes or other environmental taxes, or through direct regulations to prevent harmful activities, with fines and penalties larger than the potential profit.”

In May French President Emmanuel Macron also called for global taxation to “fight climate change."

Macron made the remarks during the New Global Financing Pact in Paris, a two-day conference during which delegates from around the world pledged more money to fund the war against global warming.

"I'm in favor of an international taxation to finance efforts that we have to make to fight poverty and in terms of climate [action]. . . . It doesn’t work when you do it alone, the [financial] flows go elsewhere,” said Macron.

The globalist leader suggested special carbon taxes on plane tickets and transactions, a scheme already introduced in France.

"France already has in place two types of taxes that have been suggested: one on plane tickets, another on financial transactions," he said, according to Bloomberg.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire built on Macron’s remarks, adding that time is of the essence. Le Maire’s experience in negotiating OECD reform proved that for "international taxation, minimum taxation and tax on Big Tech, you need five years every time. So you need to start early if you want to achieve results because it takes a lot of time." 

Another French official told Politico that the country is “thinking about ways to reinforce international fiscal cooperation, but nothing has yet been set in stone.”