With that said, let me also say that we at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy
(COWS) are embarking on an environmental tax shifting project for
Wisconsin. Our first report should be available by the middle of September
and will serve as the stepping off point for an serious outreach and
education campaign about the synergy of tax policy and environmental
protection. Tax policy in Wisconsin is so totally skewed by pandering to
short-term partisan political gain that the suggestion of a real IDEA with
some policy foundation behind it may be too much the politicians but I
don't need them yet. In fact, let them oppose it -- give my issue some play
for free. However, we have a number of state legislators interested in the
outcome of our work.
And in our proposal, we are looking for solid waste reduction angles -- in
an attempt to marry our tax shifting program with our producer
responsibility program.
David Wood
Senior Associate
Center on Wisconsin Strategy
1180 Observatory Drive, Room 7122
Madison WI 53706
608-263-7563
dwood@ssc.wisc.edu
At 10:20 AM 8/3/99 +0000, you wrote:
>Peter,
>
>Thanks for your optimistic assessment.
>
>I believe that the key to success in a venture like this will be
>identifying key individuals and organizations that will benefit from the
>changes, and building a coalition of powerful interests on our side. As we
>demonstrated in San Jose, we can designs taxes and fees to provide economic
>incentives for waste generators, haulers, recyclers and landfill operators
>to economically benefit by doing the right thing (diverting waste from
>landfill). The only question in my mind is who wants to follow San Jose's
>lead and when? We should start at the local level, then at the state
>level, then at the national level on these issues.
>
>I look forward to working with those who want to move in this direction.
>
>Gary Liss
>916-652-7850
>Fax: 916-652-0485
>****************************************************************************
>******************
>At 09:09 AM 8/3/99 -0500, RecycleWorlds wrote:
>>Gary asked for comment on the Hamond article proposing to use taxes to
>>guide personal decisions into more constructive paths.
>>
>>Certainly, in theory, this could work substantially better than direct
>>regulatory approaches.
>>
>>Unfortunately, my experience with the political arena indicates that
>>economists who LOVE this approach should not be allowed out of their ivory
>>towers (Jeff Morris and I excepted, of course), even to go to the bathroom.
>>
>>That's because tax laws are written by the tax committees, late at night,
>>in the backroom, out of the public's sights in complex tomes that no one
>>can make any sense of. Because the stakes of their decisions are so HUGE,
>>that is where 90% (or whatever) of the corporate contributions are focused,
>>making just about every person on those committees CORRUPT, with one or two
>>noble exceptions.
>>
>>Those committees, then, are the one place where we have the very LEAST
>>influence.
>>
>>Sure regulations have been correctly branded as command and control and
>>have all of the limitations that attach to them.
>>
>>But at least their visible and so much more impactable by the public than
>>tax laws.
>>____________________________________
>>Peter Anderson
>>RecycleWorlds Consulting
>>4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
>>Madison, WI 53705-4964
>>Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
>>E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com
>>
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>
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