Abstract
Green taxes, which have been discussed since the 1970s, are financial instruments used in the fight against environmental pollution. In addition to taxing, with green taxes, the activities thought to be harmful to the environment, it is also aimed to support environmentally friendly activities through economic incentives. Green taxes also address the failure of the free market in taking into account the ecological impacts that occur as a result of production or consumption activities. Countries discuss policy reforms and try to implement them in practice in order to create sustainable development under the umbrella of international associations and conferences. Green tax policies guide the steps to be taken to intervene in environmental changes. Through these policies, governments provide toolsets for the construction of a green economy by ensuring the internalization of externalities and by making guiding effects.
TopIntroduction
The devastation caused by economic models that take into account the economic growth and that are not sensitive to the environment, has reached the point where it threatens the natural, living diversity and even human health. Together with environmental risks and the acceptance that natural capital is exhaustible, the problem of climate change has been faced and this situation has forced governments to create green policies to meet the needs of their citizens. The increase in consumption as a result of increasing human needs damages the order of nature and an unsustainable eco-system emerges in the long term. For this reason, it is inevitable to develop environmental protection policies through national and international organizations. Green taxes, which have been discussed since the 1970s, are financial instruments used in the fight against environmental pollution. In addition to taxing, with green taxes, the activities thought to be harmful to the environment, it is also aimed to support environmentally friendly activities through economic incentives. Green taxes also address the failure of the free market in taking into account the ecological impacts that occur as a result of production or consumption activities.
Against the backdrop of the 2008 global financial crisis and the global climate crisis, there has been an increased trend towards green carbon policy instruments that do not harm the ecology. Countries discuss policy reforms and try to implement them in practice in order to create sustainable development under the umbrella of international associations and conferences. Creating a development strategy that offers environmentally friendly economic development strategies by protecting natural resources through the concept of green economy and green taxation associated with this concept has become an issue that attracts the attention of almost all governments. Green tax policies guide the steps to be taken to intervene in environmental changes. Through these policies, governments provide toolsets for the construction of a green economy by ensuring the internalization of externalities and by making guiding effects.
In the fight against environmental changes, the greatest power of states is the use of fiscal policy tools such as taxes, public expenditures and incentives. The periods when the use of fiscal policy tools has increased in the historical process have always been periods of crisis. The use of fiscal policy instruments, which gained popularity after the Great Depression of 1929, served as the first aid in correcting the devastation caused by the market economy and wrong economic policies. The use of green fiscal policy tools by states against ecological problems, which constitute one of the biggest problems of our age, will be an effective method in eliminating ecological destruction and protecting biodiversity. The aim of this study is to determine the fiscal policy tools that can be used to establish a sustainable future and to emphasize the necessity of fiscal policies in the perspective of green economy. In this study, the scope of green taxes will be mentioned, and some taxes that can be defined as green tax in Türkiye and some taxes that can be defined as environmentally sensitive will be evaluated also, the answer to the question of what is expected from public policies within the scope of green taxation will be sought.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Pollution Pay Principle: The “polluter pays” principle is a simple common-sense principle: The polluter – and this may be the polluting actors or activity – must pay the price to right the wrong. This may require cleaning the contaminated area or reimbursing the health costs of affected people.
Public Policies: Public policy is concerned with how binding decisions are made in a society, how social issues come to the agenda of decision-makers, how policy choices are made, what role actors play in the policy-making process, and how the success or failure of policy outcomes is evaluated.
Environmental Cleaning Tax: The Environmental Cleaning Tax, which was established in 1993 in Turkey, is in the nature of a fee in the theoretical sense, and the subject of the tax is a local administration tax that is collected from the residential, workplace and other buildings that benefit from the solid waste collection services of the municipalities, according to the fixed tariff stipulated.
Tax Burden: The tax burden, which can be defined as the ratio of taxes paid to income in general, is an indicator of the obligation and effort of the society to meet public expenditures.
Pigouvian Tax: Pigou tax, introduced by Arthur Cecil Pigou, is the taxation of negative externalities to ensure efficiency in resource allocation.
Green Tax: If a tax actually encourages the protection of natural resources and the environment or prevents harm, that tax can be expressed as a “Green Tax”.
Sustainable Development: The concept of sustainable development was first defined in the Brundtland Report prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”.