European Taxes and Incentives to Support the Environmental Transition
European Taxes and Incentives to Support the Environmental Transition

Author(s): Silvia Velarde Aramayo
Subject(s): Fiscal Politics / Budgeting, Green Transformation
Published by: Udruženje ekonomista i menadžera Balkana
Keywords: Green taxes; Environmental tax policy; Green subsidies; Environmental expenditure
Summary/Abstract: The EU-27 has multiple environmental policy instruments among which revenues-based mechanisms and direct or indirect subsidies stand out. In the first group, around 142 taxes have been identified, whose objective is to reduce GHG emissions. The second group includes tax incentives divided into five very broad categories. To this must be added the spending on environmental protection that has grown until reaching 269 EUR billion in the last year (analyzed by Eurostat). The tax structures in the EU-27, Iceland, Norway, and United Kingdom are quite similar and show how the main segment comes from taxes on energy followed by taxes on transport, and taxes on pollution or resources. Some of them, more than an environmental goal, has the purpose of collecting taxes. The article seeks to underline the need to jointly manage the revenues and expenditures policy in environmental matters and increase control over its use, implementation, recipients, and effectiveness.

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