Environmental tax reform in the Czech Republic

Zusammenfassung

Environmental tax reform in the form as it is understood today represents such a change of the tax system, where the tax burden on labour (which is relatively high not only in the Czech Republic, but in other countries as well) is shifted towards those commodities with a significantly negative influence on the environment (represented by the group of hydrocarbon fuels and electricity). In principle this approach represents the practical realisation of a Pigou tax internalising the negative externalities through an excise type of tax. The aim of this measure is not to obtain extra budgetary revenue, even if allocated for environmental purposes, but to create a stable and long term pressure on fossil fuel demand. This pressure together with other instruments of environmental policy will make economic impulses strong enough to promote the development and practical realisation of new environmentally friendly technologies both for stationary and mobile pollution sources. Despite the fact that the area of fuels and energy generally penetrates through the whole economy, this measure will have a complex impact. It is also necessary to say, that environmental tax reform is an important instrument of an active employment policy, which is realised by the lower tax burdening of labour (represented both by income taxes and social security paid by employees and employers as well).