Abstract
In this study the authors provide a bibliometric overview regarding available articles in SCOPUS database about green tax and double dividend. The results show that the theme has recently become more popular, with most articles affiliated with European countries. Regarding the sources of publication, the authors identified that the most influential journals are environmental, resources economics, and energy economics, where most of the articles are published. Finally, through keyword analysis the authors concluded that green tax focus areas are often related to double dividends, sustainable development, environmental fiscal reform and market-based instruments, while double dividend focus areas are related to Environmental tax reform, environmental policy, economic growth, employment, optimal taxation, and carbon tax demonstrating that these are the most influential topics on the subject.
TopLiterature Review
The year 2018 was a year marked by numerous ecological disasters, referred to in chapter four, and species extinction. With these current disasters it is necessary to impose some social changes and for this it is necessary that people and governments change consumer behaviors.
Since the concern about global warming, environmental taxes have been playing an important role in the EU's environmental policies. In the Europe 2020 strategy, environmental tax reform is an important and inevitable element in achieving a smart, competitive, sustainable and inclusive economy. (European Commission, 2010)
Key Terms in this Chapter
Double Dividend: It refers to the notion that environmental taxes can both reduce pollution (the first dividend) and reduce the overall economic costs associated with the tax system by using the revenue generated to displace other more distortionary taxes that slow economic growth at the same time (the second dividend) (European Environment Agency).
Triple Dividend: The triple dividend of resilience (TDR) is an approach that considers avoided losses (first dividend), induced economic or development benefits (second dividend), and additional social and environmental benefits (third dividend) of adaptation actions. The second and third dividends are especially important since they accrue regardless of whether the actual climate risk materializes (World Resources Institute).
Green Tax: A green tax is defined as a tax whose taxable base is a physical unit (or a substitute for it) that has a specific proven negative impact on the environment. To do this, it is necessary that the tax base of the environmental tax is related to the problem under consideration (the environmental damage of certain emissions or the use of products intricately linked to said damage) and that the structure of tax rates contributes to the environmental damage or to the achievement of pre-set environmental objectives (CIAT – Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations).
Environmental Tax: Environmentally related taxes are an important instrument for governments to shape relative prices of goods and services. The characteristics of such taxes included in the database (e.g. revenue, tax base, tax rates, exemptions, etc.) are used to construct the environmentally related tax revenues with a breakdown by environmental domain: energy products (including vehicle fuels); motor vehicles and transport services; measured or estimated emissions to air and water, ozone depleting substances, certain non-point sources of water pollution, waste management and noise, as well as management of water, land, soil, forests, biodiversity, wildlife and fish stocks (OECD).
Environmental Tax Reform: Environmental tax reform (ETR) is a reform of the national tax system where there is a shift of the burden of taxation from conventional taxes, for example on labor, to environmentally damaging activities, such as resource use or pollution. The burden of taxes should fall more on 'bads' (such as pollution or natural resource use) than 'goods' (like employment) so that appropriate signals are given to consumers and producers and the tax burdens across the economy are better distributed from a sustainable development perspective (European Environment Agency).