EU (not individual countries) prepares for its first direct tax

Outrageous. Talk about mission creep.

Telegraph:

The European Union is drawing up plans for its first direct tax with a "green" levy on petrol, coal and natural gas that could cost British consumers up to £3 billion.

Proposals expected to be announced next month would give the EU its first funding which would not come from national governments.

Algirdas Semeta, the new European commissioner for taxation, is planning a "minimum rate of tax on carbon" across the whole EU as a "priority".

[...]A similar proposal was considered so controversial that it was shelved without discussion five years ago.

The plan to push for more financial independence from national governments comes as the EU attempts to build a more powerful position in the world.

Following the new Lisbon Treaty, the EU now has an expensive array of new institutions including a new President of Europe and a foreign minister with her own diplomatic service.

[...]France and Sweden are enthusiastic supporters of an EU carbon tax as a part of Europe's fight against climate change (Fucking idiots). While many countries have yet to take a position Britain has been a lone voice in opposition to the new Brussels tax.

[...]Under the current law, the tax to be paid is calculated according to the quantity of fuel that is consumed but the Commission wants this changed so that it is calculated according to CO2 emissions.

[...]Details of the plan came as research by the AA has showed British drivers have been already been hit with higher tax rises on fuel, up to five times bigger than their counterparts in the rest of Western Europe since the end of the credit crunch.

Fuel duty and VAT on petrol has increased by 11.46 per cent since the end of November last year, compared with only 2.23 per cent in Austria. The UK rise is more than double the 5.07 per cent average for Western Europe as a whole.