Derlén, Mattias; Lindholm, Johan --- "Not Enough Room for Optimal Choices? The European Legal Framework for Green Taxes" [2011] ELECD 730; in Cullen, Richard; VanderWolk, Jefferson; Xu, Yan (eds), "Green Taxation in East Asia" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Green Taxation in East Asia

Editor(s): Cullen, Richard; VanderWolk, Jefferson; Xu, Yan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849803007

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Not Enough Room for Optimal Choices? The European Legal Framework for Green Taxes

Author(s): Derlén, Mattias; Lindholm, Johan

Number of pages: 42

Extract:

7. Not enough room for optimal
choices? The European legal
framework for green taxes
Mattias Derlén and Johan Lindholm

1. INTRODUCTION

There are several regulatory solutions capable of protecting and enhanc-
ing the environment, one of these being (green) taxation. In selecting
which regulatory option to use it is rational to seek for an "optimal
policy", meaning the regulatory solution that most effectively achieves the
intended aim with the least amount of undesired side-effects. For example,
several contributions in this volume discuss whether taxation or emission
trading (a cap-and-trade system) is the better regulatory solution for the
purpose of reducing CO2 emissions.1
The task of formulating an optimal environmental policy is a difficult
one.2 Within the European Union, this is aggravated by a complex con-
stitutional framework that largely places tax measures outside the scope
of EU law. This chapter focuses on this constitutional framework and its
effects on the use of green taxes and other environmental measures in the
EU.
To achieve this aim, we will make two important distinctions. First,


1 See contributions by Cockfield, A.; Milne, J.; Gumley, W., and Stoianoff,

N.; Griffiths, S.
2 Much scholarly work in this area apply law and economics theory to

approach this task. See, e.g., Albrecht, J., "The Use of Consumption Taxes to Re-
Launch Green Tax Reforms," International Review of Law and Economics, Volume
26, 2006, page 88; Andersen, M.S., "Environmental and Economic Implications
of Taxing and Trading Carbon: Some European ...