Kenya’s President William Ruto has proposed the introduction of a Carbon Tax as a way of cushioning the effects of climate change, which often impacts heavily on the finances of the government.
Ruto put this forward while speaking at the ongoing Africa Climate Summit 2023 on Tuesday. Ruto said the “tragedy” of climate change was affecting the budget of the government, and pulling economies down.
“Nevertheless, we have all, in our different ways, succeeded in making some progress over the years amid these extraordinary difficulties. The tragedy of climate change is that it is relentlessly eating away at this progress, and, going by evidence based on scientific projections, its appetite to consume our GDP will grow in years to come. We are already losing between 5-15% of our GDP growth every year to the adverse impacts of climate change,” Ruto said.
President Ruto said funds meant for the growth of the economy are often diverted to solve other issues created by climate change, such as drought and destructive floods.
“Because of climate change, we are forced to divert resources that are meant for economic growth into dealing with the effects of climate change.
“In Kenya, we lost two and a half million heads of livestock, in the northern part of Kenya. Combined with Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti, we lost nine and a half million heads of livestock. So what did I have to do in Kenya? I have had to increase resources meant for school feeding from a million under-school feeding. We had to scale up this year to four million kids in school to be put under school feeding, and we had to rearrange the budget to provide for that.
“So when we say climate change is destroying our economies, we are not making statements. We are making statements of facts,” Ruto said.
The president proposed the introduction of Carbon Tax as a solution to cushioning the impact of climate change on government finances meant for economic growth.
According to Ruto, the Carbon Tax serves as a way of raising funds to grow the economy and also access better resources to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“To be able to unlock the resources that we need, to be able to drive this new investment and financing opportunities, especially for green energy we believe it is time to have a conversation about Carbon tax. I said we need a conversation about Carbon tax. And I mean we need to have a conversation about Carbon tax. We believe it’s among the ways that we can raise additional and adequate resources for us to finance our development,” President Ruto explained.
However, many Kenyans seem irked by Ruto’s suggestion. Many have taken to social media to accuse the president of being too fond of taxes.
“Everything about him is tax,” a social media user wrote.
“President obsessed with taxation,” yet another wrote.
“He only believes (sic) in taxes. He wants to tax our free oxygen,” another chipped in.
The introduction of Carbon Tax means that businesses and industries that cause greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide through their operations – which often pollute the air and lead to sickness and death – will start paying taxes to the government.
Carbon taxes help in addressing climate change issues through the reduction of greenhouse gases, especially as emitters have to pay for each emission they produce.
It also helps the government to generate significant revenue that can be used to cushion the social and economic impact of climate change.