Abstract

The current climate crisis means that there is an urgent need to intervene in energy matters, at national and EU level, encouraging the use of renewable energy sources: taxation can also play a significant role, promoting environmentally friendly production and behaviour.
Among the possible interventions aimed at energy transition, it is worth mentioning the modification of excise duties: by abandoning their application for mere revenue reasons, their aptitude for pursuing extra-fiscal demands of environmental interest emerges.
In this regard, it can no longer be postponed to amend Council Directive 2003/96/EC, which, by providing for minimum rates of taxation on energy products, does not adequately promote greenhouse gas emission reductions and favours the use of fossil fuels, allowing for widely divergent national rates and a wide range of exemptions and reductions. This was recently reflected in the proposal for a directive COM (2021) 563 final — not yet approved by the Council — which, by rewriting the text of Directive 2003/96/EC and providing for higher taxation of the most polluting fuels, promotes the use of clean fuels.
The need to steer excise duties on energy products towards green objectives is also discernible in the Italian scenario: the enabling act No. 111/2023 envisages a remodulation of rates calibrated to the ‘environmental impact of each product’, going beyond the current setting independent of the harmful emissions they release.
In conclusion, having established the need for excise reform, it is worth examining its effects and the underlying social issues. Increased taxation on the most polluting products will in fact have a significant economic and social impact, potentially causing energy poverty problems. These effects could be stemmed through the remodulation of taxation on labour and through specific subsidies or incentives (social tariffs or bonuses) in favour of the economically weaker.
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KEYWORDS: Energy taxation – Energy transition – Excise duties – Directive 2003/96/EC – Economic and social effects.

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Fonte: https://www.innovazionediritto.it Vai all’articolo originale