Introduction The issues of sustainable development may be raised and answered on the universal level. Any human is able to contribute to his or her livingenvironment and the living environment of their descendants. Each human being must act in the way that does not harm future generations. Threekey dimensions form the basis of sustainability: environmental, social,and economic. Starting with oneself and aiming to develop sustainability,one faces certain challenges that may be addressed using certain measures. Environmental taxes are one of such measures. They may bereferred to as a fiscal instrument that helps regulate the detrimental environmental impact. Majority of researchers (Murcott, 2003; Carson, 1962; Heinberg (2010); Ekins, 2012; Bey, 2001, Ciegis, 2009; Brink et al., 2014; Beurman et al., 2006; Ciuleviciene, Slavickiene, 2014 and others) have analysed the potential benefit of sustainability and environmental taxes and have suggested that introduction of environmental taxes is one of the best ways to reduce the environmental damage. The present environmental taxes and their impact do not present any particular effect on the economy. This is related to comparatively insignificant amounts of revenue generated by the environmental taxes that are insufficient to cover the costs of environmental protection. Environmental taxes regulating the interplay between economy and environment are the instruments of fiscal policy. Revenue generated by these taxes is allocated to stimulation of the sustainable economy based on conservation of nature, more environmentally friendly production. Such taxes lead to reduction of pollution and stimulate sustainable development of the national economy. They also influence changes in the national tax structure, i.e. increase the tax base that does not distort the market (taxes on goods and services causing negative environmental impact) and reduce the tax base that distorts the market (personal income tax, corporate income tax, etc.). Research object: environmental tax reforms in the EU countries. Research aim: to evaluate the experience of environmental tax reforms in the EU countries. The following objectives have been set out to achieve the research aim: • To provide theoretical reasoning for the links between sustainable development and environmental tax reform; • To evaluate the developments of environmental taxes in the EU countries, which have implemented the environmental tax reforms. Methods used: scientific literature analysis and summarisation, systemic reasoning, graphic systematisation of statistical data, summarisation and comparison. Links between Sustainable Development and Environmental Taxes The principles of sustainable development were formulated in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Leaders of more than 170 nations acceded to the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 declared at the Summit. Countries then developed their national strategies on sustainable development on the basis of these documents and documents endorsed later at the Johannesburg World Summit attended by national and government leaders. Sustainable development is the development path of a modern state and society. It is based on three key elements: environmental protection, economic and social welfare (the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, 2011). H. Daly (1996), the U.S. economist, has stated that sustainable development is the development that is sustainable from a social perspective, where the overall economic growth does not violate the limits of the life sustaining system. Legislation of the Republic of Lithuania interprets sustainable development as a trade-off between environmental, economic, and social goals that enables the society to reach the universal welfare for the existing and coming generations without violating the permissible limits of environmental impact. According to R. Goodland, G. Ledec (1987), sustainable development is the economic development that brings economic and social benefits without any risk of declining benefit in future. R. Ciegis (2004) views sustainable development as an approach that implies continuous improvements of the present quality of life by using resources at lower intensity in order to ensure that the reserves of natural resources and other assets remain at the same or even greater level for the future generations. There is a multitude of various concepts defining sustainable development. The main ideology of sustainable development was formulated in a more comprehensive way for the first time in the UN Report of the World Commission onEnvironment and Development: Our Common Future in 1987. The UN report (1987) defines sustainable development as the “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. According to R. Ciegis, A. Dilius, A. Mikalauskiene (2014), it is not a coincidence that this definition of sustainable development is the most quoted definition and might be considered as more comprehensive than many other definitions.
Fair allocation of natural resources both among different generations and among the people living in the first, second, and third world countries, as well as reaching a positive consensus between environmental, social, and economic dimensions of development form the core of his arguments. According to T. Razauskas (2009), the concept of sustainable development is the priority in discussions over future prospects.
Sustainable development is defined as one of the key goals of various policies and referred to as the indicator of effective implementation of the policy. Particular attention is put on meeting the needs of future generations. The presented definitions of sustainable development suggest three key dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. Report published by the OECD: Institutionalising Sustainable Development (2007) presents the interaction between these three factors in the form of matrix (Table 1):
The matrix represented by Table 1 explains the interaction between
three variables: implementation of the economic goal of poverty reduction
would inevitably cause an economic effect on social environment and
environmental protection. By analogy, in case of implementation of the
social goal of improvement of people’s development, the economic
environment and environmental protection would be affected as well.
Implementation of the goal of environmental protection, i.e. ecosystem
conservation, would affect the economy and social environment. Hence, the matrix reflects close reciprocal relation between the three components, and the Table suggests that the goal under one component would certainly cause effect on other components. With the basis of the sustainable development concept formed of three equivalent components, namely, environmental protection, economic development, and social development, various political decisions, formation of legal regulation, implementation of various policies must account for the combination of environmental, economic, and social aspects (Medeliene, Zvaigzdiniene, 2012)
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