Environmental Taxes and Fiscal Reform

by Piga, Gustavo; Castellucci, Laura; Markandya, Anil

• ISBN13: 9780230392397
• ISBN10: 0230392393
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-12-07
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The best fiscal system for a country is the one that allows maximum revenue in the long run, satisfying both efficiency and equity. Environmental taxes are consistent with these criteria. Not only it is fair to tax "bads," such as pollution or excessive use of natural resources, rather than "goods," such as labor and profits, it is a known result in the received literature that green taxes have a positive effect on the development and diffusion of new technologies. GDP (and possibly employment) increases will follow, which in turn secure an increase in the long run tax revenue. This book aims to encourage the study of fiscal reforms consistent with ongoing environmental problems - by addressing a variety of efficiency and equity related issues under different perspectives and in relation to different countries. Moreover the book emphasizes that "green tax reform" requires further action than the introduction of one or two green taxes.

Author Biography

LAURA CASTELLUCCI is a Full Professor of Economic Policy at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy. She is Coordinator of the PhD program in Environmental Law & Economics (DEA), Director of the Master program in Economics of Environmental Governance and Territory (MEGAT), (second level) and Director of the online Master program in Environment: Law and Economics (AED) (first level). She is also a member of the teaching board of the PhD program in Economics and Institutions. She has published in Italian academic journals and books.ANIL MARKANDYA is the Director of the Basque Centre for Climate Change in the Basque Country, Spain, and Honorary Professor at the University of Bath, UK. He was a lead author for the 3rd and 4th International Panel for Climate Change, which was awarded a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. In 2008 he was nominated by Cambridge University as one of the top 50 contributors to thinking on sustainability in the world. In 2011 he was elected President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economics.

Table of Contents

Preface; L.Castellucci & A. Markandya
PART I: GENERAL ISSUES
Environmental Taxation: What Have We Learned in the Last Thirty Years? A.Markandya
Market-Based Instruments in CEE Countries: Much Ado About Nothing; M. Scasny & V. Maca
PART II: DISTRIBUTIONAL ISSUES
Environmental Fiscal Reform in East and Southern Africa and its Effects on Income Distribution; D. Slunge & T. Sterner
Environmental Quality and Income Inequality: The Impact of Redistribution on Direct Household Emissions in Italy; L. Castellucci, A. d'Amato & M. Zoli
PART III: CARBON TAXATION
Carbon Pricing as an Effective Instrument of Climate Policy: Searching for an Optimal Policy Instrument; A. Ansuategi & I. Galarraga
Green Taxes on Aviation: The Case of Italy. The Proposal of the Green Taxation Matrix; A. Markandya & E. C. Ricci
Is it Time for a Revival of ETR in Italy? Energy Elasticities and Factor Substitutability for Manufacturing Firms; R. Bardazzi, F. Oropallo & M.G. Pazienza
Financing Public Expenditure via Emissions Taxation under International Emissions Trading: Is there any Scope for Emission Tax Harmonization? A. d'Amato & A. Spisto