| Green Tax Shift |
Article Index for Green |
Website Links For Green |
Information AboutGreen Tax Shift |
|
Examples of taxes which could be lowered by a green tax shift:
Examples of taxes to be implemented or increased:
Tax shifting may include balancing taxation levels to be revenue-neutral for Government , Industry or Consumer groups. Taxes on consumption may take the Feebate approach advocated by Amory Lovins in which additional fees on less sustainable products — such as Sport Utility Vehicle s — are pooled to fund Rebate s on more sustainable alternatives — such as Hybrid Electric Vehicle s. The object of a green tax shift is often to implement a "full cost accounting", using fiscal policy to internalize market distorting externalities, which leads to higher efficiency and sustainable Wealth creation. PROGRESSIVE OR REGRESSIVE? Some green tax shift proposals have been criticized being fiscally Regressive (a tax with a marginal rate that decreases as the taxpayer's income increases). Taxing resources usually implies taxing consumption, and since the poor consume more and save or invest less as a share of their income, any shift towards consumption taxes is considered regressive. Correctly assessing distributive impact of any tax shift requires specifics, eg. is the increase in the (moderately regressive) carbon tax more than offset by the decrease in the (highly regressive) payroll tax? Some proposals claim a second benefit of increased employment or lower health care costs as the market and society adjust to the new fiscal policy. These claims, as with the claim "tax cuts create jobs" are theoretical and speculative: very difficult to prove or disprove even after the fact. GREEN TAX SHIFTS ENACTED A green tax shift has been enacted in Germany by means of three laws in 1998 , 1999 and 2002 . The first introduced a tax on electricity and petroleum, at variable rates based on environmental considerations; renewable sources of electricity are not taxed. The second adjusted the taxes to favor efficient conventional power plants. The third increased the tax on petroleum. At the same time, Income Tax es were reduced proportionally so that the total tax burden remained constant. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK
|
|
|