The Integration and Construction for Taiwan's Energy Tax under the Climate Change
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Lin, Wei-Chen
Abstract
Due to international community’s hot discussion of climate change issues, the domestic implementation of greenhouse gas emission control and reduction is imperative. Therefore, to review and evaluate the energy policy is a necessity. Although Taiwan is not in rich of energy reserves, the demand of fossil energy, the main source of greenhouse gas emissions, is extremely impressive. This is why the issues of energy conservation and carbon emission reduction are quite important.
The energy and environmental protection are not issues for single country or department but global. The greenhouse gas produced by use of fossil energy which causes global warming and result in climate changes, and even lead to catastrophe and disease around. Our country is highly dependent on imported energy, the energy structure is mainly fossil energy, and, the current energy-related tax policy is in short of overall rules. It is urgent to have consolidation and reform of energy taxation, so the environment policy of energy saving and carbon reduction can be promoted. To urge industries doing research and development of carbon reduction technologies, developing alternative energy or green energy, and then gradually make energy-intensive industries transform.
Nordic countries took the lead in introduction of energy taxes in the early 20th century. Taxes levied against the greenhouse gases. In 2001, the United Kingdom is a country in few numbers that can reach the global reduction target of the Kyodo Protocol, levy climate change tax, which is the narrow sense of energy tax. The purpose of this study is to discuss the tax of climate change in the UK, and provide a reference for the reform of Taiwan’s energy tax.
The taxpayer for UK Climate Change Levy is energy supplier. When the power companies or energy companies sell energy to industrial and commercial departments, they need to pay Climate Change Levy. The purpose of imposing an energy tax is in the hope that by raising energy prices to make external costs become internal’s, lower market demand for energy, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, if the industry was voluntary to do research and development on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and effectively achieve government’s target, the British Government will give preferential tax of 80%. This system is called climate change agreement. Therefore, many large enterprises in the UK selected climate change agreement, and small companies choose to pay full amount of the Climate Change Levy. Go different ways to achieve the same effect of greenhouse gas reduction.
By a comprehensive survey of Taiwan’s seven energy-related taxes, which include customs duties, value-added and non value-added sales tax, excise duties, air pollution control fees, soil and groundwater pollution remediation fees, oil funds and motor fuel user fees. The first three are general taxes. The competent authority of it is the Treasury. Co-ordination and expenditure is adopted; the last four are nature of regulation fees. The competent authorities include the EPA, Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Economic Affairs. The earmarking revenue is adopted. This operation mode is uneasy to achieve an efficient spending unless it goes through strict supervision and control.
Since the introduction of relevant systems of climate change tax, UK has a significant effect of greenhouse gas reduction. Taiwan might refer to UK’s tax structure as well and integrate present complex of energy taxes into energy tax. Accordingly, this paper proposes to integrate similar taxes into one. Excise, stationary sources of air pollution control fee and the Petroleum Fund are essentially within energy tax, so they are combined as energy tax. The motor fuel user fees and mobile sources of air pollution control fee are both levied taxes through the calculation of energy usage, so the two merged into transportation fuel taxes. As a result, the energy tax system in Taiwan can be divided into energy tax and transportation fuel tax, which are controlled by price incentives in different greenhouse gas emission areas.
As for the energy tax which is constantly deliberated by government and civil in recent years, it might be developed in the combined tax system. Calculating a proper framework of tax rate through economic model and empirical study to achieve a specific target of energy saving and carbon reduction.
Subjects
energy tax
climate change
Climate Change Levy
carbon tax
greenhouse gas reduction
Type
thesis
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