Environmental taxes

AUTHORS: Paul Johnson ; Andrew Leicester ; Stephen Smith
COMMENTATORS: Agnar Sandmo ; Nicholas Stern

The chapter will include discussion of the general principles involved in the use of taxes to address environmental externalities, and also of specific issues arising in particular areas of potential application. It will review the evidence base in this area and assess whether we have good empirical models of how consumers and firms respond to policy in this area. Further, the chapter will address how we measure costs and benefits as a basis for policy, and the future data that will be needed to make good policy in this area. The general issues to be discussed include the relative merits of taxes and other approaches to environmental externalities (direct regulation, emissions trading, subsidies), the relationship between environmental externalities and existing taxes, and the double dividend issue. Specific applications to be discussed include road transport (motor fuel taxation and multiple externalities - air pollution and congestion), taxes on energy use (carbon taxes versus the alternatives, the optimal time profile of energy taxes and the international aspects of energy taxation), waste management, the spatial pattern of development, and natural resource taxes.

Related papers and presentations

PLEASE NOTE: presentations from the September meeting represent draft work in progress. Factual accuracy is not guaranteed, and opinions may not be the fully-formed views of authors. They are posted here to stimulate discussion, and should not be quoted or cited without the authors' permission.

Environmental taxation
Stephen Smith
30 Aug 2007 , Presentations

Environmental taxation
Stephen Smith
This presentation was prepared for a conference organised by the Foundation for Fiscal Studies, in association with the Irish Taxation Institute.
04 May 2007 , Presentations

Environmental taxes
Agnar Sandmo
This presentation was delivered at the IFS Residential Conference 2007.
24 Apr 2007 , Presentations

Environmental taxation
Don Fullerton, Andrew Leicester and Stephen Smith
This draft paper forms part of the Mirrlees Review and was presented at the IFS Residential Conference 2007.
20 Apr 2007 , Conference Papers

The UK tax system and the environment
Andrew Leicester
This report takes a broad overview of the UK environmental tax system as it exists in 2006.
02 Nov 2006 , IFS Reports ,  R68

Environmental taxation (presentation)
Don Fullerton, Andrew Leicester and Stephen Smith
26 Oct 2006 , Presentations

Environmental taxation (paper)
Don Fullerton, Andrew Leicester and Stephen Smith
26 Oct 2006 , Mimeos

The Review is funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the ESRC.