Parents who have more than two children should be charged a lifelong climate change tax to offset¹ the effect of their extra greenhouse gas emissions², an Australian medical expert has proposed.
 
Parents who have more than two children should be charged a lifelong climate change tax to offset the effect of their extra greenhouse gas emissions, an Australian medical expert has proposed.

They should pay 5,000 dollars (4,400 US) a head for each extra child and up to 800 dollars every year thereafter, according to the plan published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

In contrast, contraceptives and sterilization³ procedures would be eligible⁴ for carbon credits, suggested Professor Barry Walters at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth.

"Every family choosing to have more than a defined number of children should be charged a carbon tax that would fund the planting of enough trees to offset the carbon cost generated by a new human being," he wrote.

Walters made his proposal in a letter in which he criticized the government's payment of a 4,000 dollar "baby bonus" in a bid to boost the birth rate in this sparsely-populated country of 21 million people.

Paying parents extra for every baby fuelled more emissions and contributed to global warming, he said, adding that the bonus should be replaced with a "baby levy⁵" in line with the "polluter pays" principle.

And Professor Garry Egger, director of the New South Wales Centre for Health Promotion⁶ and Research, agreed.

"Population remains⁷ crucial to all environmental considerations," he said. "The debate (around population control) needs to be reopened as part of a second ecological⁸ revolution."

 
近日，澳大利亚一位医学专家提议，有两个以上孩子的家庭要终身缴纳气候变化税，以消除其多排放的温室气体带来的不良影响。

根据在《澳大利亚医学》期刊上公布的征税计划，每多生一个孩子就得缴税5000澳元（4400美元），以后每年还得缴税800澳元。

珀斯市爱德华国王纪念医院的巴里•沃尔特斯教授介绍说，相反，采取避孕和节育措施的人将有资格获得“碳信用”奖励。

他在提案中写道：“‘超生’家庭都应缴纳‘二氧化碳税’，所征的税将用于植树造林，以消除新增人口所排放的二氧化碳带来的危害。”

澳大利亚仅有2100万人口，为了提高出生率，政府出台了一项“婴儿奖金”计划。该计划规定，每个新生婴儿可获得4000澳元的奖励。而沃尔特斯则在一封倡议书中批评了政府的这一举措。

他说，这一计划加剧了温室气体的排放和全球变暖。他还建议，应按照“污染者付费”的原则，将这一津贴改为“婴儿税”。

新南威尔士健康促进与研究中心的主任、盖里•艾格教授对这一观点表示同意。

他说：“人口仍是各种环境问题的关键因素。作为第二轮生物进化的一部分，有关人口控制的辩论应重新展开。”