“The economy is still substantially that of the fur trade, still based on the same general kinds of commercial items: technology, weapons, ornaments, novelties, and drugs. The one great difference is that by now the revolution has deprived the mass of consumers of any independent access to the staples of life: clothing, shelter, food, even water. Air access remains the only necessity that the average user can still get for himself, and the revolution has imposed a heavy tax on that by way of pollution. Commercial conquest is far more thorough and final than military defeat.” WayKindStillsWaterDifferencesTechnologyEconomyAirMilitaryRevolutionDrugTaxesWeaponsMassIndependentRemainsTradeFinalsDefeatAverageHeavyAccessConsumersClothingsUsersPollutionShelterConsumerismConquestItemsDeprivedNoveltyFurThoroughOrnamentsOverconsumptionStaples Book:The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture Source: The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
“Buying pollution credits is folly; it doesn't help the environment. Instead of using tax dollars to buy credits overseas, we'll use them at home.” HelpingUseHomeEnvironmentTaxesDollarsCreditFollyBuyingPollutionTax Dollars Author:Stephen Harper
“In the last few decades entire new categories of waste have come to plague and menace the American scene. Pollution is growing at a rapid rate. Pollution destroys beauty and menaces health. It cuts down on efficiency, reduces property values and raises taxes. Almost all these wastes and pollutions are the result of activities carried on for the benefit of man. A prime national goal must be an environment that is pleasing to the senses and healthy to live in. Our Government is already doing much in this field. We have made significant progress. But more must be done.” MenMadeDoneGovernmentLastsValuesGoalResultsBeautyEnvironmentCuttingGrowingProgressFieldsHealthySceneActivityTaxesWasteBenefitsRaisesPropertyRateDecadesSensesSignificantPrimeCategoriesPollutionEfficiencyPlagueRapidsMenacePollution Control Author:Lyndon B. Johnson
“We can decide that the presence of cancer-causing substances in our air, water, and food is too expensive. A 2009 study, for example, has found that coal miners in Appalachia costs the region five times more in premature deaths, including from cancer, than it provides to the region in jobs, taxes, and economic benefits. In California, the production and use of hazardous chemicals cost the state $2.6 billion in 2004 alone in lost wages and health-care expenses to treat workers and children with pollution-linked diseases.” ChildrenStatesUseCareJobsFoundLostWaterStudyFiveAirEconomicExampleCostTaxesDiseaseBenefitsTreatsEnvironmentalWorkersIncludingCancerProductionsBillionsHealth CareSubstanceCaliforniaExpensiveRegionsExpensesChemicalsPollutionWagesCoalLinkedPrematureMinersAppalachiaCoal MinersPremature Death Author:Sandra Steingraber
“We must recognize that the goal of a cleaner environment will not be achieved by rhetoric or moral dedication alone. It will not be cheap or easy and the costs will have to be borne by each citizen, consumer and taxpayer. How clean is clean enough can only be answered in terms of how much we are willing to pay and how soon we seek success... It is simplistic to seek ecological perfection at the cost of bankrupting the very tax-paying enterprises which must pay for the social advances we seek.” EnoughSocialEasyGoalTermPayMoralEnvironmentWillingCitizensCostTaxesPerfectionCleanEnvironmentalConsumersEnterpriseDedicationPollutionRhetoricTaxpayersEcologicalCleaners Author:Richard M. Nixon
“What can be done? Well, the governments of the world can undertake what amounts to a vast clean-up campaign and a vast campaign of organic renewal. The problem is the cost of an effective operation, which is enormous, and thus must be paid by someone via some form of taxes.” WorldWellsDoneProblemGovernmentFormAmountCostTaxesPaidCleanEnvironmentalCampaignsEnormousOperationsPollutionRenewal Book:The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World Source: The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World
“We should tax things we don't like. We should tax pollution ... And we should lighten the taxes on things we do like, like honest labor, like food.” ShouldHonestTaxesLaborPollution Author:Ralph Nader