The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is urging nations to set pollution taxes high enough to reflect the long-term impact of climate change. “The IMF, one of the world’s leading development institutions, has long favored putting a price on carbon as an essential defence against the mounting damages of climate change,” Cushman reports. “But its advice has never been so blunt, or so detailed.” The report, Getting Energy Prices Right, recommends higher prices on fossil fuel burning to control greenhouse gas emissions and local smog, as well as gas taxes to pay for wear and tear on roads. For Canada, writes Julian Beltrame in the Globe and Mail, the report calls for higher taxes on oil and gas and a new tax on coal, with corresponding income tax cuts. “Globally, Canada is near the bottom on the scale of taxation levels for gasoline among industrialized nations,” Beltrame reports.
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