ĐÁNH GIÁ KINH NGHIỆM TRONG MÔI TRƯỜNG THUẾ CẢI CÁCH TRONG CÁC QUỐC GIA CHÂU ÂUAstrida Miceikiene, giáo sư.Ausra Butvilaite, mgViện kinh tế, kế toán và tài chính, khoa kinh tế và quản lý, Aleksandras Stulginskis đại học, LithuaniaTóm tắtThe urbanizing world, where human labour has been replaced by the mechanized machinery, is becoming increasingly dependent on the resources provided by nature. The demand of humanity in natural resources continues to grow. Due to the limitedness of the goods provided by nature, a human must take a more responsible approach towards the available resources by using the resources that are renewed more often and by protecting non- renewable resources. Sustainable development is the field that analyses these paradigms. Social, economic, and environmental dimensions combined and the emphasis on one of the fiscal instruments for the purposes of sustainability bring forward the concept of environmental taxes. Environmental taxes may be interpreted as a fiscal instrument that transfers the tax burden from the “goods” onto the “bads”. Income generated by these taxes is distributed for stimulation of the sustainable economy based on conservation of the nature and more environmentally friendly production. The taxes considered may not only allow reducing the pollution and stimulating sustainable development of the national economy, but also influence the changes of the national tax structure. This article analyses the concepts of sustainable development, environmental taxes, and environmental tax reform. The development of environmental taxes, energy, transport, resources, and pollution in the selected EU countries is analysed. The analysis has shown that environmental taxes are sometimes allocated between the countries irrespective of whether a country has already implemented the environmental tax reform or not. In any case, each country should put own effort into environmental issues and seek sustainability.Keywords: Environmental taxes, tax reform, sustainable development IntroductionThe issues of sustainable development may be raised and answered on the universal level. Any human is able to contribute to his or her living environment and the living environment of their descendants. Each human being must act in the way that does not harm future generations. Three key 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 be referred 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 on Environment 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):
Table 1. Interdependency Matrix of Sustainable Development
From/To Economics Social Environment
Economics Poverty Alleviation Related Impacts Related Impacts
Social Related Impacts Human Development Related Impacts
Environment Related Impacts Related Impacts Conserve Ecosystem
Source: http://browse.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/pdfs/product/0307041e.pdf
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).
The domains of three components forming the concept of sustainable development: environmental protection, economic development, and social development, may influence each other. Therefore, the environmental domain, i.e. the natural capital, may determine the production level attributed to the economic domain which, in turn, may influence the unemployment level, i.e. a variable of social domain. The environme
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