New Economics Papers
on Public Finance
Issue of 2012‒07‒01
two papers chosen by



  1. Regressivity of environmental taxation: myth or reality? By Katri Kosonen
  2. A retrospective evaluation of elements of the EU VAT system By Institute for Fiscal Studies

  1. By: Katri Kosonen (European Commission)
    Abstract: This paper first presents an overview of the various factors that in light of the economic literature should be taken into account in the analysis of tax incidence of environmental taxation. It then explores the main empirical findings, in particular those which make a distinction between the distributional effects of transport-related taxes and those of other environmental taxes. This includes also some less well-known evidence from the Nordic countries. In the final section it presents some recent evidence on the distributional impact of energy taxation in the EU member states included in the impact assessment of the revision of the European Union’s Energy Tax Directive.
    Keywords: European Union; taxation; environmental taxes, redistribution
    JEL: H23
    Date: 2012–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxpap:0032&r=pub
  2. By: Institute for Fiscal Studies
    Abstract: In December 2010, the Commission signed a contract for a retrospective evaluation of the consequences, in economic terms, of the functioning of the most pertinent elements of the current EU VAT system, as identified in the "Green Paper on the future of the VAT". The final report was submitted by the external consultants on 5 December 2011. This evaluation looked into the design and implementation of certain VAT arrangements, assessing their effectiveness and efficiency in terms of results and impacts they had created. It examined their relevance and their coherence with the smooth functioning of the single market and the requirement to avoid distortion of competition specified in Article 113 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
    Keywords: European Union, taxation, VAT
    JEL: H25
    Date: 2011–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxstu:0039&r=pub

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