Some people support the idea of imposing taxes on fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) in order to reduce energy consumption. Others disagree with this approach. Consider the debate and its arguments, and come to your own conclusion.

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Most people agree that the use of fossil fuels should be reduced to some extent.
However
, imposing taxes is a controversial tactic which appears to have a number of contradictory effects. We will consider
bothsides
Suggestion
both sides
of the discussion in
this
essay. On the one hand, those who support taxation of fossil
fuels promote
Accept comma addition
fuels, promote
the idea that higher prices will lead to lower consumption and
thus
lower emissions. They point to evidence from countries
such
as
Sweden where
Accept comma addition
Sweden, where
this
appears to be the case, and urge other nations to follow suit.
Furthermore
, proponents of
fuel
taxes claim that the funds raised can
then
be used to subsidise renewable
energy
projects
such
as solar and localised biofuel reactors. To the supporters of the idea, these benefits are convincing.
However
, opponents of
fuel
tax are able to cite evidence from other countries (including France and Italy) where higher tax has apparently not reduced demand for
such
fuels. In these cases, the effect has been to force people to pay more for the same volume of
energy
, which appears to penalise those who can least afford it.
Moreover
, critics of
fuel
tax
also
highlight the difficulty in governments promising renewable schemes without interfering in the entire
energy
market. If the state was to control the entire market for fuels, they say,
this
would force suppliers to leave the market,
thus
reducing competition and efficiency.
This
argument
also
appears to be quite powerful. Overall, I would tend to side with the opponents of
fuel
taxation. It seems to be unreasonable to force vulnerable consumers to pay more for a commodity which is essential to them, without a real infrastructure for renewable
energy
being in place. It would be more logical to improve availability of
renewables
that can be renewed or extended
renewable
first
, which would allow consumers to make a genuine choice.
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Include an introduction and conclusion

A conclusion is essential for IELTS writing task 2. It is more important than most people realise. You will be penalised for missing a conclusion in your IELTS essay.

The easiest paragraph to write in an essay is the conclusion paragraph. This is because the paragraph mostly contains information that has already been presented in the essay – it is just the repetition of some information written in the introduction paragraph and supporting paragraphs.

The conclusion paragraph only has 3 sentences:

  • Summary
  • Restatement of thesis
  • Prediction or recommendation

Example:

To summarize, a robotic teacher does not have the necessary disciple to properly give instructions to students and actually works to retard the ability of a student to comprehend new lessons. Therefore, it is clear that the idea of running a classroom completely by a machine cannot be supported. After thorough analysis on this subject, it is predicted that the adverse effects of the debate over technology-driven teaching will always be greater than the positive effects, and because of this, classroom teachers will never be substituted for technology.

Start your conclusion with a linking phrase. Here are some examples:

  • In conclusion
  • To conclude
  • To summarize
  • Finally
  • In a nutshell
  • In general

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Topic Vocabulary:
  • mitigate
  • renewable energy
  • economic impact
  • regressive tax
  • alternative strategies
  • energy conservation
  • public transportation
  • green infrastructure
  • global cooperation
  • consistency
  • accountability
  • polluter pays principle
  • sustainable development
  • energy efficiency
  • fiscal policy
  • carbon footprint
  • environmental sustainability
  • energy policy
  • tax incentives
  • climate change
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