A £1 Billion ‘Toaster Tax’ Faces Britons Under Government ‘Net Zero’ Plans

MPs and industry chiefs have warned new government ‘Net Zero’ proposals could see Britons hit by a £1billion ‘toaster tax’.

Plans to amend regulations to promote the reuse and recycling of used electrical equipment are presently being consulted on by the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. 

One of the proposed changes to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (WEEE) is the ‘take back’ of old electrical devices by bigger retailers. 

This may even apply if the products were purchased elsewhere and a new purchase from the same retailer was not necessary. 

Ministers are also suggesting that, in the event that they are delivering a new item, all online merchants and sellers offer a free collection service for used equipment such as TVs, fridges, freezers, washing machines, and dishwashers. 

But Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, told The Telegraph the new rules could cost firms ‘£1 billion or more’ per year.

The government acknowledges that the expenses may be passed on to consumers in the form of increased pricing in a paper that accompanies the consultation.

Ms Dickinson said: ‘We think [the bill would be] in the hundreds of millions of pounds plus and could be £1 billion or more.’

Senior Tory MP David Jones, a former Brexit minister, described the plans as ‘awful’ and akin to a stealth ‘toaster tax’.

He told the newspaper, ‘This is exactly the sort of burdensome regulation that we thought we were getting rid of when we left the EU.

‘This is an extraordinary imposition on businesses, and the government should have nothing to do with it.

‘I think it is completely unreasonable that they should expect retailers to do that.’

During the public comment period, which ends on March 7th, DEFRA highlighted how the global purchasing of electronic items is a “significant driver of emissions.” 

‘By 2040, on current trends, it is estimated that worldwide emissions from the production and use of electronics could rise to a level exceeding half that associated with the global transportation sector today,’ it added.

One proposal in the consultation is for ‘internet sellers and retailers to provide a free of charge collection on delivery service, requiring the free takeback of large domestic appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, freezers, and TVs’. 

Another is for ‘internet sellers with a turnover of over £100,000 of electrical sales each year to offer take-back of unwanted equipment on a one-for-one, like-for-like basis’.

There seems to be an ongoing plot to figure out how to defraud us of our money, and a toaster tax sounds like lunacy.

Forget about toasters; what about all those old batteries from electric cars that need to be buried in landfills?

It’s amusing how Net Zero appears to be generating revenue for Mayor Sadiq Khan and the government.

After the WEF bankers and their henchmen have wrung every last bit of money from us, Net Zero is the proletariat’s expected bank balance.

If we ever get to Net Zero, the rich and powerful will say we need to be minus Net Zero, and after that, they will make up some more nonsense, like daylight-changing tax, if they haven’t thought of it already. Wake up, people; we’re being conned.

This Net Zero nonsense needs to be thrown into a landfill. It’s no more than a cash grab for the government and councils, and I’m surprised we haven’t already got a fresh air tax, but watch this space, folks.

These cunning Net Zero fines are the same as the 17th-century Window Tax—essentially, they are the result of a desperate government looking for any way to get money, no matter how implausible.