Environmental Taxes in Europe

Abstract

This paper provides an overview and a discussion of environmental taxes in Europe. On the whole, most European countries have fairly high levels of environmental taxation - at least compared to the US. This appears broadly speaking to be true of both tax levels and tax revenues. It is partly related to a greater reliance on taxes as an instrument of environmental policy and partly due to a greater acceptance of taxes and maybe a larger public sector overall. It may also be due to a more ambitious goal when it comes to reductions in fossil energy use, particularly for transportation. There is still considerable variation within Europe when it comes to the level of taxation, the use of the revenues collected and other issues.