Environmental Protection And Optimal Taxation

Simple unweighted cost-effectiveness analysis remains relevant and correct when one introduces costly redistribution and revenue generation.

ÔIngeniously organized in a life cycle format, the Handbook covers environmental taxation concepts, design, acceptance, implementation, and impact. The universal themes discussed in each area will appeal to a broad range of readers.Õ Ð Larry Kreiser, Cleveland State University, US ÔThis book is a smart and useful readerÕs guide providing analytical tools for a full comprehension of environmental taxes, with an interdisciplinary approach that looks at all the different phases of environmental taxation: from the design to the implementation, the political acceptance and the impact on the economy. The authorsÕ effort is very successful in endowing academicians, policy makers and the general public with an excellent proof of the effectiveness of environmental taxes and green tax reforms.Õ Ð Alberto Majocchi, University of Pavia, Italy ÔPutting the words ÒenvironmentÓ next to ÒtaxationÓ might not always be the flavour of the month, but no modern society can ignore the value of the natural environment and the need to maintain its good quality and no competitive economy can prosper without the necessary tax revenues to function. Environmental taxation offers the prospect of moving towards a more resource-efficient economy, where preference is given to tax more what we burn, less what we earn. I welcome this contribution to the literature.Õ Ð Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, European Commission ÔThe Milne and Andersen volume provides a splendid treatment of environmental taxation that encompasses the basic conceptual issues, problems of tax design and implementation, and several insightful case studies that show how environmental taxes actually work in practice. It is the best overall treatment of environmental taxation available: comprehensive, rigorous, and readable.Õ Ð Wallace Oates, University of Maryland, US The Handbook of Research on Environmental Taxation captures the state of the art of research on environmental taxation. Written by 36 specialists in environmental taxation from 16 countries, it takes an interdisciplinary and international approach, focusing on issues that are universal to using taxation to achieve environmental goals. The Handbook explores the conceptual foundations of environmental taxation, essential elements for designing environmental tax measures, factors that influence the acceptance of environmental taxation, the variety of ways to implement environmental taxes, their environmental and economic impact and, finally, the larger question of the role of taxation among other policy approaches to environmental protection. Intermixing theory with case studies, the Handbook offers readers lessons that can be applied around the world. It identifies key bodies of research for people who are already working in the field or entering the field and highlights issues that call for more research in the future. With systematic analysis of key issues in environmental taxation, this book will appeal to researchers, governments, think tanks, NGOs, and academics in law, economics, political science and public finance, as well as students specializing in environmental taxation and other market-based instruments.

Pigou's conjecture was that under costly taxation public expenditures should not reach the point where marginal benefits equal marginal costs. In the treatment here, public expenditures (and environmental protection) may provide public goods for consumption but also collective inputs for production. When the benefits are in production, the cost of funds is irrelevant. Why? Collective inputs benefit goods that are taxed, while for public goods the shadow price of funds reduces provision as if they were.

This book brings together the work of scholars from England, France, Germany, Sweden, and the United States to examine the ways in which industrialized nations have used and are developing tax laws to help alleviate environmental problems. For each country, the contributors offer a thorough review of existing and proposed initiatives and an in-depth evaluation of their effectiveness. They also discuss the theoretical framework behind environmental tax initiatives, explain alternative systems to taxation, reveal problems in dealing with environmental concerns that are common to all of the countries studied, and suggest ways to more efficiently coordinate tax and environmental policies. Based on their research, the contributors conclude that the general tax systems of the United States and other countries unintentionally conflict with environmental policies and that no country has yet been able to adequately control automobile pollution, although some have had varying degrees of success in other areas. The volume begins with an introduction that presents a nontechnical discussion of the current economic thinking on environmental taxes and alternatives such as direct government regulation and granting polluters limited or tradable rights to pollute. The following chapters discuss each country in turn. Each chapter first examines the institutional framework of the country--central versus regional government, how legislation is enacted and executed, the distribution of authority over environmental matters, and important environmental policy goals. Next, the compatability of the tax system with environmental goals is analyzed. Finally, there is a thorough treatment of that country's environmental tax initiatives, including an in-depth assessment of their relative success or failure. Policymakers, lobbyists, economists, and attorneys will find Taxation for Environmental Protection enlightening reading.

This paper recommends a system of upstream taxes on fossil fuels, combined with refunds for downstream emissions capture, to reduce carbon and local pollution emissions. Motor fuel taxes should also account for congestion and other externalities associated with vehicle use, at least until mileage-based taxes are widely introduced. An examination of existing energy/environmental tax systems in Germany, Sweden, Turkey, and Vietnam suggests that there is substantial scope for policy reform. This includes harmonizing taxes for pollution content across different fuels and end-users, better aligning tax rates with values for externalities, and scaling back taxes on vehicle ownership and electricity use that are redundant (on environmental grounds) in the presence of more targeted taxes.

Environmental taxes differ from each other according to the functions they serve and the manner in which they are implemented. This study highlights the appropriateness of different kinds of environmental taxes against a rigorous framework of theory and case study evidence. The purpose of this book is to analyse the way in which environmental taxes are categorized and which factors affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the different kinds of environmental taxes in practice. This pragmatic approach is emphasized along with the multiplicity of regulatory problems such as: At what level should the environmental tax rate be set? What is the proper time schedule for introducing an environmental tax? What are the most appropriate taxable characteristics and how should they be determined? What activities should be exempt from environmental taxation? How can tax relief be implemented? These are only some of the regulatory problems explored in this study, which also encompasses an examination of the theory of regulation. The author argues that economists have often paid too little attention to the administrative and legal issues concerning the implementation of legislation, such as environmental tax laws, which are of course vital to the success of any potential policy. Lawyers too have in turn neglected the theory of regulation, which would assist in analyising problems in a future-oriented way. Environmental taxes will therefore be of great interest to a wide audience of environmental economists, law and economics scholars as well as policymakers.--Back cover.

Many problems prevent the widespread implementation of environmental taxes. This overview offers an economic analysis and practical policy suggestions, with numerous examples including designing the instrument, using the revenue, making the tax acceptable, and the ethical issues.