Massachusetts could be the first state to allow residents to donate their tax refunds to help developing nations build resilient communities.
Massachusetts state Reps. Antonio Cabral (D) and Tram Nguyen (D) re-introduced legislation last month that would include a new section on tax forms asking taxpayers whether they want to donate their state tax returns to the Least Developed Countries Fund. Parties to the United National Framework Convention on Climate change created the fund in 2001 to help the world’s least developed countries prepare for natural disasters and make communities more resilient to adverse weather.
The bill was held up in committee during the last legislative session, when much of the state’s focus was on COVID-19 alleviation and recovery.
The bill establishes the Massachusetts Fund for Vulnerable Countries Most Affected by Climate Change, a voluntary tax-return contribution option that would be incorporated into the United Nations Least Developed Countries Fund. Cabral told NetZero Insider that he is optimistic the bill will pass this year, as there is a major focus on climate legislation in the state.
“A lot more people are not only talking the talk but also walking the walk,” he said. “But this is a new concept, and it takes time for people to get their heads around it.”
Government entities can contribute to the international fund, but individuals cannot. For that reason, it remains largely underfunded, Larry Yu, chair of the Climate Reality Project Boston chapter, told NetZero Insider.
The U.S. contributes less than 10% of the fund, but the Massachusetts bill, if passed, would pave the way for other states to contribute as well, Yu said.
“Then the contribution becomes more significant,” he added, as climate change is causing increasingly intense natural disasters.
In 2019, Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,000 people in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, and left millions more without food or access to services. Water shortages in Eastern Africa are displacing thousands of people from their homes.
“That [natural disaster] didn’t really hit the news in the [U.S.],” Yu said.
The bill, and addressing climate change in general, is a matter of “moral responsibility, not foreign aid,” Adil Najam, professor of international relations and earth and environment at Boston University, told NetZero Insider.
The least developed countries are 48 of the poorest countries in the world, the majority of which are in Africa and Asia. They are also the countries least responsible for contributing to the climate crisis.
The energy infrastructure in Massachusetts impacts the rest of the world, Cabral said.
The bill is not addressing the question of who is at fault, Najam said. Instead, he added, it addresses shared responsibility.
Donating state income tax returns to the fund is “something easy to do, but very meaningful,” he said.