Tax Law and the Environment

The daily reminders of the profound and escalating impacts of climate change set beside Congresss apparent abandonment of coherent tax policy make this volume especially timely. Given the dramatic implications of tax policy on the environment, this extraordinarily useful and approachable work deserves special attention from anyone wishing to better coordinate these policies and improve environmental outcomes. -- Congressman Earl Blumenauer The potential of tax law in addressing environmental issues and promoting sustainable development has long been underused. While theoretical arguments for environmental taxation have been discussed extensively, less discussed has been the complex form that such instruments have taken the real world. Tax Law and the Environment: A Multidisciplinary and Worldwide Perspective seeks to fill this gap by examining the practices of environmental taxation from the diverse perspectives of law, economics, and policy science. With leading U.S. and worldwide scholars bringing distinct expertise to the books subject matter, the book will be of interest to legal scholars and lawyers, economists and policy makers in the U.S. and around the world. -- Reuven Avi-Yonah, University of Michigan Taxation plays a major role in shaping our energy systems, and hence our physical environment, but often not in ways that were intended or are easy to understand. Roberta Mann and Tracey Roberts have performed an invaluable service by assembling a stellar group of lawyers, economists, accountants and, environmental policy experts from around the world to analyze the origins, structures and impacts of environmental and energy taxes. This multidisciplinary, international perspective will be of great utility in trying to frame tax systems that will benefit both the environment and the economy. It will also help non-tax specialists sort through many of the arcane but essential details of the relevant tax laws. -- Michael B. Gerrard, Columbia University School of Law True to its title, this volume is interdisciplinary and global, as it must be. The authors and the editors collectively do a magnificent job of covering the geographic and policy landscapes, and do so with the first-hand knowledge that comes only with serious and sustained engagement with the world of tax law and its environmental effects. This book is essential to anyone interested in environmental taxation and the other myriad of tax laws that have environmental consequences, sometimes foreseeable, sometimes not. -- Shi-Ling Hsu, Florida State University College of Law

Roberta Mann is the Mr. & Mrs. L.L. Stewart Professor of Business Law at the University of Oregon School of Law. Tracey Roberts is assistant professor at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.

Chapter One The Curious Origins of the Major U.S. Tax Incentives for Oil and Gas Producers Chapter Two Problems, Policies and Politics of Taxing Energy in the U.S. Chapter Three Tax Treatment of Coal Chapter Four The Japanese Carbon Tax and the Challenges to Low-carbon Policy Cooperation in East Asia Chapter Five Tax and the Environment- Australia Style Chapter Six Environmental Taxation in Canada Chapter Seven The Introduction of Carbon Taxes in Europe Chapter Eight Environmental Taxation in Latin America Chapter Nine Taxing Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Key Issues Chapter Ten Tax Incentives for Conservation Easement Donations: Learning from the U.S. Experience Chapter Eleven The World Trade Organization and Renewable Energy