Editing Environmental tax (section)

==Progressive or regressive?==
Some green tax shift proposals have been criticized as being fiscally [[regressive tax|regressive]] (a tax with an average tax rate that decreases as the taxpayer's income increases). Taxing negative externalities usually entails exerting a burden on consumption, and since the poor consume more and save or invest less as a share of their income, so that any shift towards [[consumption tax]]es can be regressive. In 2004, research by the [[Policy Studies Institute]] and [[Joseph Rowntree Foundation]] indicated that flat rate taxes on domestic rubbish, energy, water and transport use would have a relatively higher impact on poorer households.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3955285.stm |title= Green taxes 'would hit poor most' |work= BBC News |date= October 26, 2004 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101218015724/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3955285.stm |archive-date = December 18, 2010 |url-status= dead}}</ref>