ECONOMIC EFFECTS AND REGULATORY LIMITS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TAXES

Abstract

Environmental protection presents one of the main goals of every social-responsible economy. Environmental taxes based on the principle “the polluter pays”, within the system of fiscal measures, present the basic instruments of environmental protection. The member states of the European Union (EU) belong to a group of the leading countries in the implementation of environmental taxes. Since the aim of the Republic of Serbia is to join EU, it is quite clear that in the future it will have to harmonize its normative acts with the EU legislation in the field of environmental protection. In the field of environmental protection in Serbia, we still have the implementation of more regulatory-normative measures in relation to the implementation of economic measures. Therefore, the comprehensive environmental tax reform is imminent. In the future, making the traditional tax rates green, presents the inevitability both in the system of regulatory and the system of institutional  changes as well. In this paper,  a brief review of the types of environmental taxes, which have already been implemented in EU has been given, as well as the current state in Serbia concerning the implementation of valid regulations in this field. When the importance of revenue from taxes and compensations for the environmental protection are taken into account, then a more responsible approach is necessary in statistic monitoring, recording, as well as in the process of purposeful spending of collected funds. When these conditions have been fulfilled, we can talk about a serious analysis of the state and efficient implementation of environmental taxes in the field of environmental protection.