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Dr Bob Offei Manteaw, Lead Advisor for Resilience Learning and Partnerships for Climate Action for the African Resilience Collaborative, has called on Government to consider renaming the recently introduced tax on luxury vehicles as Climate Action Tax.

He said government has missed an opportunity to show commitment to emission reductions as required in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by not disguising the luxury vehicle tax as an act for climate action.

Dr Manteaw, in an interview with Ghana News Agency, affirmed his support for the new tax on large engine vehicles or what has been categorized as luxury cars, adding that, “it makes a lot of sense and is very much welcome.

“However, there is a clear opportunity to situate such a measure within the current global agenda on low carbon development to demonstrate government’s commitment to help reduce emissions by changing social behaviour”.

Dr Manteaw, who is also a Research Fellow and a Lecturer at the Center for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies at the University of Ghana, said it is important that Government shows clear leadership in the climate change fight by consciously integrating climate change considerations into all national policies.

“The suggested tax on luxury vehicles make sense, no doubt, but in reality what we are talking about is engine capacity, fuel consumption, pollution and the kinds of damage they do to the natural environment. If we look at it this way then there is every justification for the tax.

“By classifying such category vehicles as high-emitters and taxing them accordingly as climate action, government would have done three things: created awareness on climate change, influenced social behaviour through choices, and affirmed Ghana’s commitment to the low-carbon agenda,” he said.

He said the luxury vehicles tax will open the door for other similar innovative measures to influence behavioural changes through the choices people make.

He said it is clear that it is not a case of government using taxes to punish those who want to use big engine vehicles, but a case of creating awareness, signalling government’s commitment to taking mitigation actions in support of climate change and also permitting people to make sound choices.

“The country already has the plastic tax which does not seem to have done what it was created to do.  If the government is serious about the environment and climate change, this perhaps presents another opportunity to look at all those taxes again and leverage them to effect,” he said.

The Climate Change Lecturer said: “As a country, we need to get serious about climate change and do all that is possible to help fight it. It is a shame that most people in the country still do not have any awareness or understanding of climate change; they do not understand its manifestation and the significance of impacts on individual and social life”.

He said government needs to show leadership in climate change actions by consciously locating certain policy measures in climate change lenses.

Dr Manteaw said “luxury as used in this discussion is not about wealth or affordability or how expensive the car is, but the environmental cost.

“So, if it is the environmental cost to society that makes it a luxury then there is a clear justification to call it Climate Action Tax”.

He said such a move is still not too late and there is the move for government and all stakeholders to give it a careful consideration.