Ecological Tax Reform

Preface1. Introduction: The Crisis Runs Deeper Thank We Think2. Increasing the Productivity of Natural Resources and Energy3. Economic Instruments of Environmental Policy Tradeable Permits
Special Charges
Ecological Tax Reform
Cutting Subsidies
4. The Polluter Pays Principle and External Costs
5. The Importance of Price Elasticity
6. Price Elasticity for Fuels: A New Measurement Concept Elasticity in the Past 
A ‘Retro-Prognosis’ 
Valid for the Future?
7. What Would Happen if There Were a Significant Annual Increase in Fuel Prices? Extrapolation from the Empirically Derived Elasticity of Macro-economic Fuel Efficiency
A System Dynamics Simulation
The Possibility of Even More Dramatic Changes
8. Objections and Obstacles to Ecological Tax Reform The Fiscal Policy Objection: The Conflicting goals of yield vs. steering effect
The Social Policy Objections: ‘Green taxes aren’t fair’
The Environmental Policy Objections: ‘Revenues should be purpose-linked’
The Economic Policy Objection: ‘Ecological taxes are a burden on the economy’
The Voter Objections: ‘Ecological taxes aren’t popular’
The Effectiveness Objection: ‘There are instruments which work faster and with greater precision than ecological taxes’
The Inertia Objection:  ‘Ecological taxes will throw everything into disorder’
The Harmonisation Objection: ‘Ecological taxes cannot be harmonised within the EC’ 
Objections from the Losers
9. The International Dimension Industrialised Countries
Developing Countries
10. What Makes Ecological Tax Reform Attractive for the Business World?Notes and References
Index