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Concept
Environmental tax
Summary
An environmental tax, ecotax (short for ecological taxation), or green tax is a tax levied on activities which are considered to be harmful to the environment and is intended to promote environmentally friendly activities via economic incentives. A notable example is carbon tax. Such a policy can complement or avert the need for regulatory (command and control) approaches. Often, an ecotax policy proposal may attempt to maintain overall tax revenue by proportionately reducing other taxes (e.g. taxes on human labor and renewable resources); such proposals are known as a green tax shift towards ecological taxation. Ecotaxes address the failure of free markets to consider environmental impacts.
Ecotaxes are examples of Pigouvian taxes, which are taxes that attempt to make the private parties involved feel the social burden of their actions. An example might be philosopher Thomas Pogge's proposed Global Resources Dividend.
Examples of taxes which could be lowered or eliminated by a green tax shift are:
Payroll, income, and, to a lesser extent, sales taxes.
Corporate taxes (taxes on investment and entrepreneurship).
Property taxes on buildings and other infrastructure.
Examples of ecotaxes which could be implemented or increased are:
Carbon taxes on the use of fossil fuels by greenhouse gases produced. Old hydrocarbon taxes don't penalize greenhouse gas (GHG) production.
Duties on imported goods containing significant non-ecological energy input (to a level necessary to treat fairly local manufacturers)
Severance taxes on the extraction of mineral, energy, and forestry products.
License fees for camping, hiking, fishing and hunting and associated equipment.
Specific taxes on technologies and products which are associated with substantial negative externalities.
Waste disposal taxes and refundable fees.
Steering taxes on effluents, pollution and other hazardous wastes.
Site value taxes on the unimproved value of land.
Official source
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