GST aims to ensure the permanent sustainability of natural resource consumption increasing awareness.
The catastrophic Australian bush fires, the New Zealand floods, the cyclones and hurricanes of Japan, Hong Kong, The Philippines, the United States of America, Africa and India. The devastating effects of the climatic changes could be felt by all of us including our children.
Implementing GST prevents overconsumption which stresses our earth. Most people are not educated or are simply careless about how these resources are used up unnecessarily. GST educates people and promotes savings and investments. As a result of GST, people will make more conscious efforts in consumerism decision making.
Approximately 1.7 billion people worldwide now belong to the “consumer class”—the group of people characterized by diets of highly processed food, desire for bigger houses, bigger cars, higher levels of debt, and lifestyles devoted to the accumulation of non-essential goods. This, in turn, leads to more pollution, more traffic and more use of the fast depleting fossil fuels.
Increased consumerism evidently comes at a steep price. Consumer spending drives natural extraction and production output, with an impact on water, energy and land use.
In 1990 some 8.1 tonnes of natural resources were used to satisfy a person’s need, but in 2019, almost 20 tonnes of resources were extracted per person.
Worst of all, people are incurring more financial debts and working longer hours to pay for the high-consumption lifestyle, consequently spending less time with family, friends, and community organizations.
Excess consumption can be counterproductive. The irony is that lower levels of consumption can cure some of many of the societal and psychological problems that come along with it. Charging GST on goods consumed is a very effective way to deter people from buying more than what they need. Most importantly, it saves the limited resources for our future generations.