Edward Elgar Publishing Tax Expenditures and Environmental Policy (New Horizons in Environmental and Energy Law series)

This timely book provides a critical examination of the ways in which tax expenditures can be best used in order to enhance their efficacy as instruments for the implementation of environmental policy.   Examining the capacity and limits of tax expenditures in financing environmental policy, Hope Ashiabor considers their use in various contexts and policies in order to clearly establish the common threads as well as any deviations that have emerged. The book outlines how, when used in environmental policy either to provide preferences to certain activities or to address the challenges of environmental degradation, the management of tax expenditures invariably results in unintended consequences that manifest in negative environmental outcomes and economic inefficiencies. It also examines some of the challenges encountered in re-structuring subsidies that have become environmentally harmful.   Tax Expenditures and Environmental Policy will be of great interest to students and scholars in both tax and environmental law. It will also offer an essential tool for policy makers and practitioners through its focus on policy design and its doctrinal analysis. Review 'The concept of ''tax expenditures'' as coined by Stephen Surrey in 1967 and its role for environmental protection is the topic of this refreshing book, which investigates policymakers' inclinations for making stealth disbursements by offering opportunities for reductions in tax payments. Hope Ashiabor's savvy and sobering analysis unveils how tax expenditures permeate market transactions everywhere, from vehicle purchases to clean-tech development. Although distorting to the visions of internalizing the costs of pollution through taxation, his profound analysis of the realities is nevertheless comforting.' --Mikael Skou Andersen, Aarhus University, Denmark 'A very useful resource for people interested in how tax expenditures send environmentally positive and negative signals-and the policy merits of tax expenditures more broadly. Addressing theory and practice, Professor Ashiabor engagingly tackles an important topic.' --Janet E. Milne, Vermont Law School, US 'Professor Ashiabor has written a thorough analysis of the use of tax expenditures in an environmental policy context. The analysis is richly illustrated with many interesting examples, spanning half a century, building on an in-depth review of relevant literature. The book clearly emphasises the practical difficulties in designing well-working tax expenditures, and the many political economy issues that they raise.' --Nils Axel Braathen, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development About the Author Hope Ashiabor, Climate Policy Consultant, Australia