Environmental Tax Reform: Principles from Theory and Practice to Date
Event Details
Presenters
Dirk Heine, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund
John Norregaard, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund
Ian Parry, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund
Abstract
This paper recommends a system of upstream taxes on fossil fuels, combined with refunds for downstream emissions capture, to reduce carbon and local pollution emissions. Motor fuel taxes should also account for congestion and other externalities associated with vehicle use, at least until mileage-based taxes are widely introduced. An examination of existing energy/environmental tax systems in Germany, Sweden, Turkey and Vietnam suggests there is substantial scope for policy reform. This includes harmonizing taxes for pollution content across different fuels and end-users, better aligning tax rates with (albeit crude) values for externalities, and scaling back taxes on vehicle ownership and electricity use that are redundant (on environmental grounds) in the presence of more targeted taxes.
Date
Thursday, May 10, 2012
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Location
7th Floor Conference Room
1616 P St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036 All seminars will be in the 7th Floor Conference Room at RFF, 1616 P Street NW. Attendance is open, but involves pre-registration no later than two days prior to the event. For questions and to register to an event, please contact Khadija Hill at [email protected] (tel. 202-328-5174). Updates to our academic seminars schedule will be posted at www.rff.org/academicseminarseries.
Participants
Ian Parry
