'Environmental Taxes in the Uk\r'

'environmental receipts enhancementes in the UK| BEA2002 throng news programpaper publisher Assignment| Ben Dance, Liwei Rao, Qi Gao, Nellie Ho and Ahmed Mujtaba| 1. existence 1. 0 We have been commissi unrivalledd by the presidency to write a writing on how the sure UK valuate revenue income system of rules encourages measurepayers to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. In the first part of the report we ordain look at three elements of the UK system and outline how they encourage environmentally friendly demeanor and in the second part we will canvass these elements to measures in interpose in Sweden. 2.Key Elements of the UK appraise placement 2. 1 mode Change Levy 2. 1. 1CCL is a assess on the supply of energy to melodic phrasees in the commercial, agricultural and industrial sectors. The levy, introduced in April 2001, works by charging for each unit of energy manipulationd thence the more energy employ the more evaluateation a business ha s to pay. It’s an arbitrary steering of trying to get businesses to take the energy they subprogram and the emissions they produce. The charge per unit of energy varies depending on the trade good used and the pollution that the commodity produces.For ex adenosine monophosphatele, electricity has a higher value of charge (0. 509 pence per ki upsetatt hour) comp atomic number 18d to petrol (0. 177 pence per kilowatt hour) because it is more damaging to the environment (HMRC, 2013). 2. 1. 2 The politics claims the CCL has had a significant impact on reducing the emissions produced by the UK. However, the House of Commons environmental Audit Committee has an alternate view that the decrements are due to different measures already in place. They call back that the CCL yards are not significant copious to influence doings (CIOT, 2009).Another argument suggests that businesses are merely passing on the levy by step-up their wrongfulnesss leaving the incidence of the assess with the consumers. If we look at the value revenues from CCL, we can see that it has never reached its yearbook target of ? 1 bn, suggesting the assess is ineffective (Annie Reece, 2012). 2. 1. 3 In support of the government claims, thither is hit evidence that the annual emissions are on the shoot †elevator carbon dioxide emissions have go downd by 15. 9% from 1990 to 2010 (Department of Energy & Climate Change, 2013).It may not be clear whether this is voltaic pile to CCL but you cannot deal that companies are now far more alive(predicate) of their emissions. 2. 2 Landfill Tax 2. 2. 1 The UK government introduced the landfill valuate in October 1996 in order to meet its obligations under the 1999 EU landfill directive. Before 1996, the municipal dissolution in UK was growing at an average rate of 3% per annum up to 21. 63 million thymines in 1995/96 (atomic number 63an Commission, 2001). However, even after this introduction the UK rebrinyed as one of the biggest producers of bollix in europium.To combat this, the Treasury enforced a radically increasing rate of landfill valuate (CIOT, 2009). thither are two types of landfill bollocks ups which are valuateed at two different rates. The first type is the convention (active) macerate which is taxed at ? 64/tonne and will thoroughly-nigh likely rise to ? 80/tonne in 2014; the other type is known as inert fantastic, such as rock and bricks, which is taxed at ? 2. 5/tonne. 2. 2. 2 The everyday motivator of the landfill tax is to encourage more sustainable waste focusing and to alter businesses and customers’ doings by producing less waste.However, the tax has not been as effective as expected. The governing body of inert waste has declined but the said(prenominal) cannot be said for active waste. A possible footing for this could be that, although the tax rate of inert waste is much turn down than active in living value, it is higher in lot value w hich operator the tax burthen on an inert waste producer is heavier than on an active waste producer (European Commission, 2001). Also, the active waste is more likely to be weighed at the disposal stage or else than collection stage, which may pass in less incentive for individuals to reduce their waste.The revenue from the landfill tax is completely a small affinity of the total tax revenue to the HMRC, so the large increase of this tax reflects the finis of government to change waste behaviour rather than raising tax revenue. 2. 3 open fire Tax 2. 3. 1 In the UK there is a terminate tax that is applied to all Hydrocarbon supplys, including unleaded petrol, diesel, LPG, biodiesel, bioethanol and other cans that are used in cars. The rate of the fuel duty is usually set during the budget grooming and it consists of an additional tax that is applied to the petrol forrader it is interchange.Currently the tax levied on the most(prenominal) commonly used petrol and d iesel prices are 85p and 85. 93p respectively. Thus, the total price for the petrol and diesel is around 136. 26p and 143. 27p respectively as well (BBC Business, 2012). 2. 3. 2 Such taxes are levied by the government to reduce the excessive usage of the fogey fuels and in this case oil. Petrol and diesel are both extracted from the crude oil and are the most commonly used fuels around the world. The government hopes that the tax will reduce usage because it is directly passed onto the consumers.Thus, not only would this measure rake in millions for the government, it would too reduce the carbon footprint which is a fix for the countries like UK. 2. 3. 3 As a result of this 527 million fewer litres of petrol and diesel were sold in the UK last year, as individuals and companies chose to drive less, accord to Edmund King, president of the Automobile Association. The government has faced a lot of criticism from some groups about the tax and praise from others such as various envir onmental group and agencies (BBC Business, 2012). . 3. 4 In particular, â€Å"a check by Lord Heseltine into governments continued support for low and ultra-low carbon vehicles” was deemed helpful by SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt. 2. 3. 5 Separately, changes to capital allowance and tax relief rules, as well as the car fuel benefit charge, should help â€Å" young the UKs business fleet”, according to Mike Moore, automotive psychoanalyst with Deloitte, a consultancy. He equally added â€Å"This means that businesses should badly consider the carbon footprint of their fleet in order to control costs. (D Martin, 2012). 3. 0 Comparison with Sweden 3. 1 Climate Change Tax 3. 1. 1 In Sweden, there is a variety green taxes related to to climate change. Sweden was the first country in Europe to introduce a green tax in 1991 when they brought in the Energy and atomic number 6 Dioxide Tax (Swedish environsal Protection Agency, 2000). This introduction, ten years ahe ad of the UK, shows that the Swedish government was much more aware of the damage their behaviour was causing than the UK government. 3. 1. The Swedish Energy and Carbon Dioxide Tax works by charging the user for the do of carbon dioxide produced unlike the UK CCL which charges in respect of the cite of energy. Both have the aforementioned(prenominal) impact on behaviour as they both encourage taxpayers to reduce the amount of energy they use and the emissions they produce. Over the years, there has been a significant increase on the tax rate to continue the fight against climate change. The increase has been so great that Sweden now has the highest carbon tax rate worldwide (Government Commission of Measures against Climate Change, 2000). . 1. 3 Unlike we plant in the UK, it has had a grand impact on individual and business behaviour. There has been a 9% reduction in foul up emissions in the past decade even though economy has grown 44%. At present, the general CO2 tax rate amounts to more than nose candy EUR/tone; this is a much larger burden than the UK’s CCL rate (Swedish National Energy Administration, 2000). This may explain why the Swedish Tax has changed the behaviour so much more. 3. 1. 4 In the UK, we found that it is not clear which tax is causing the reduction in emissions.However, in Sweden the CO2 tax has contributed significantly to reducing fossil fuel consumption, oddly the stake for the household, service sectors and district heating production, where the full CO2 tax rate is applied (Developing Green tax †Summary of a Government Assignment Report 5390, 2004). 3. 2 Landfill Tax 3. 2. 1 The current landfill tax in Sweden, which was introduced in January 2000, is very similar to the tax in the UK in that it aims to prevent the increase of waste generated.However, Sweden also uses their tax to try and encourage the use of the waste to generate energy while minimizing wellness and environmental effects to humans (European study pith on sustainable Consumption and Production, 2009). The tax rate started off at €26/tonne and has increase to €47/tonne (? 40) (Scottish Government Rural Environment Research, 2008). This is lower than the rate in the UK (? 64/tonne) which suggests that waste management is not as big an thin in Sweden when compared to the UK. 3. 2. 2 Before 2000, landfill only went down by 2% p. . but after the implementation, it began to decrease by 13. 6% p. a. between 1999 and 2006. At the same time, recycling in the country increased by 4. 6% p. a (European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2012). In 2009, revenue from landfill tax was only 15% of that in 2000, which proves that the tax has provided a good incentive in Sweden to reduce waste; unlike the UK where the tax has been arguably ineffective (European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2012). 3. 2. Sweden has also successfully implemented schemes which divert landfill to recycling or to waste-to-energy power plants, where it is burned as fuel. According to the most recent figures from Eurostat, only 1% of waste from Swedish households ends up in landfill. This is much lower than the same figure for the UK of 48% which suggests the recycling schemes in place in the UK are not effective (Care2, 2012). The drunkenness industry in Sweden has a return rate of over 90% on glass and credit card bottles which shows the tax affects businesses behaviour as well as households (Scottish Government Rural and Environment Research, 2008). 3. . 4 From this comparison, it seems unembellished that the UK could learn from Sweden and change batch’s behaviour more effectively by implementing and encouraging a better recycling scheme rather than penalizing people through taxes. 3. 3 provide Tax 3. 3. 1 The fuel tax in Sweden comprises of an energy tax and a carbon tax. A tax is determined on top of the price of petrol in the same way that the UK government do. The total tax (including value added tax) has been 6. 875 kr (about ? 0. 6913) per litre since January 1, 201. This rate is lower than the tax in the UK which again suggests that the consumption of fuel is less of an issue. . 3. 2 The energy tax contains excises on motor vehicle fuels, the average proportion being 3. 4 points in EU. Sweden is the country has second highest percentage (4. 9 points) among the EU member states. This tax is similar to the vehicle road tax in the UK. 3. 3. 4 There is a significant difference in the revenues of fuel tax in the UK and Sweden. In the UK, the proportion of the revenue of fuel tax amounts to more than 90% of the total energy taxes revenue, while the percentage for Sweden is only slightly above 50 %.The tax revenues on born(p) gas and electricity are the main reasons that result to this different situation. Sweden collects the most revenues from electricity and natural gas taxes (about 30 %). In contrast, the United commonwealth only receives negligible revenues on related items (less than 2 %) (Taxation trends in the European Union, 2009). 3. 3. 5 As is well known, Sweden has a high international profile in environmental policy all over the world. The revenue from environmentally related taxes is however not particularly high in this country.On the other hand, the revenue from green taxes in Sweden has been steady rather than decline in recent years, which is in contrast to the trend in many other countries (Swedish Tax Policy: late Trends and Future Challenges, 2010). Bibliography CIOT, 2009. Green Tax Report. [online]. gettable at: <http://www. greentaxreport. co. uk/> [Accessed 28 January 2013]. HMRC, 2013. Climate Change Levy judge from April 2012. [online]. Available at: <http://customs. hmrc. gov. uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp. portal? nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD1_031183&propertyType=document> [Accessed 28 January 2013]. Annie Reece, 2012. Landfill Tax Revenue Set to Increase. [online]. Available at: <http://www. resource. uk. com/ bind/UK/Landfill_tax_revenue_set_increase> [Accessed 28 January 2013]. Department of Energy & Climate Change, 2013. GHG Inventory summary Factsheet. [online]. Available at: <https://www. gov. uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/39729/5558-all-gas-factsheets-as-single-document. pdf> [Accessed 28 January 2013]. European Commission, 2001.Study on the Economic and Environmental Implications of the Use of Environmental Taxes and Charges in the European Union and its Member States. [online]. Available at: <http://ec. europa. eu/environment/enveco/taxation/pdf/ch15_uk_landfill. pdf> [Accessed 27 January 2013] BBC Business, 2012. Fuel duty rise cancelled by chancellor. [online] Available at: <http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-20592706 > [Accessed 11 February 2013]. BBC Business, 2012. Budget 2012: Fuel duty increase gets go-ahead. [online] Available at: <http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-17458423> [Accessed 10 February 2013].D Martin, 2012. Were the fuel tax capital of Europe: British motorists pay up to 60% duty and VAT on petrol †the highest figure in the EU. [online] Available at: <http://www. dailymail. co. uk/news/article-2107374/Fuel-tax-British-motorists-pay-60-duty-VAT-petrol. html> [Accessed 11 February 2013]. Care2, 2012. The Environment and Wildlife Cause. [online. ] Available at: <http://www. care2. com/causes/sweden-is-so-green-it-has-to-import-garbage. html> [Accessed 5 February 2013]. European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2009. Fact Sheet for Sweden. [online. ] Available at:\r\n'