90 likes | 243 Views
Environmental taxes for the EU? opportunities and risks. Dr. Pendo Maro EU Policy Officer, Environmental Policy Integration European Environmental Bureau (EEB) Financing the EU: where does, could and should the money come from? An NGO lunch debate May 21, 2008
E N D
Environmental taxes for the EU?opportunities and risks Dr. Pendo Maro EU Policy Officer, Environmental Policy Integration European Environmental Bureau (EEB) Financing the EU: where does, could and should the money come from? An NGO lunch debate May 21, 2008 EU Civil Society Contact Group; Social Platform Brussels.
Structure of presentation • Introduction: EEB, self • Introduction: environmental taxes • Examples in EU • Uses of revenues • Environmental tax reform • EEB’s work on environmental tax reform • Conclusion: tax for EU budget?
Introduction • EEB: federation of over 145 environmental citizens’ organisations in EU 27, candidate countries and neighbours • Aim: to protect and improve EU’s environment, through citizens by promoting environmental policy integration (EPI) and sustainable (development) policies at EU level • Work: working groups of members, position papers, representation at EU Commission, European Parliament and Council • My work: EPI - integrating economic instruments into environment policy, subsidy reform, indicator for societal progress, following development of IA methodology, relevant energy and transport dossiers; Lisbon National Reform Programmes,…
Environmental taxes: introduction • Definition: several, no formal agreement: • General: taxes intended to promote ecologically sustainable activities via economic incentives; with or without regulatory approaches • Eurostat, 2001: a tax whose base is a physical unit … of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment. • But: No account of intention of tax, only what being taxed • Purpose: part of market-based instrument, used to internalise external env costs; price signal stimulate producers and consumers to limit env pressure, move towards sustainable use of natural resources – promotes ‘Polluter Pays Principle’. Used as revenue generating tool
Environmental taxes and charges • Energy taxes: Energy Tax Directive; sets min env tax rates for fuels in all MS; Germany rise in petrol • CO2 taxes: no EU law; Member State e.g. Finland, Denmark, Germany, NL, Estonia • Pollution: levy on NOX e.g. France, Italy, Sweden; SO2 levies e.g. Denmark, Norway, Sweden • Agriculture: taxes/charges on pesticides e.g. Denmark, Norway, Sweden; on fertilizers e.g. Denmark • Products: e.g. batteries in Belgium, Bulgaria, Lithuania,, Sweden • Waste: user charges in most MS; hazardous waste taxes: e.g. Belgium, DK, France, Germany, Poland, Finland • Water: user charges in most MS • Other taxes –e.g. tax on electronic and electronic waste
E.g. Uses of revenues • CO2/energy tax: general budget or reduce labour costs e.g. Germany, NL, UK • NOX charge in Sweden: recycled to liable payers • Landfill tax revenues in France: recycled to municipalities; in Austria funds clean-up of contaminated sites; in UK used to reduce social contributions and support environmental projects; Norway to general budget • Batteries tax in Belgium: funds Belgian batteries collection and recycling scheme • etc
Environmental Tax Reforms • Emphasis is on shift of tax from ‘goods’ (e.g. labour, etc) to ‘bads’ (e.g. Pollution, natural resource degradation, etc) • Fiscal reform: includes removal of environmentally harmful subsides • ETR in EU Germany, 1999-2003: tax shift from social security contributions to energy; Sweden, 2001-2010: from personal income tax and social security to env and energy taxes, CO2 and SO2; Austria 2004: from personal income and corporate tax to energy tax
EEB’s work on ETR“Make the market work for the environment” • Environmental Tax Reform since 2001: Campaign for 10% Tax Reform in 10 years - shifting taxation burden away from welfare-negative taxes (e.g. labour) to energy and natural resource use and pollution; environmental harmful subsidy reform; tax neutrality Objectives: • Changing consumption and production patterns towards greater sustainability • Raising awareness; promote effective EU-wide ETR
Conclusions: Tax revenues for EU budget? • Difficult to dictate to national govts what to do with revenues, already used for diff purposes • At EU level taxation requires unanimity – main obstacle to EU taxation • To counter unanimity: Open method of coordination • Emphasis should be on tax shift and budget neutrality, including off-setting negative social effects of taxes