Ecological tax as a tool for leveling the negative impact on the environment

¹ Research Financial Institute of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, Center for Sectoral Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
² Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Department of Taxes and Tax Administration of the Faculty of Taxes, Audit and Business Analysis, Moscow, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: mpinskaya@nifi.ru

Abstract

The current environmental impact fee falls short in compensating harm and encouraging environmental protection. It lacks fiscal function and transparent regulation, risking unreliable pollution accounting. The hypothesis of the study is that the transition to tax relations with organizations and individual entrepreneurs that have a negative impact will create objective prerequisites for the effective regulation of environmental externalities by increasing the reliability of the payment base, improving administration as a result of establishing tax liability and tax incentives for environmental protection measures. The purpose of the study is to develop the concept of an environmental tax as a way to achieve a balance of interests of the state, society and companies while reducing emissions, discharges of pollutants and waste disposal. The study is based on general scientific methods of scientific knowledge (analysis, synthesis, generalization, grouping, classification), as well as special economic and mathematical methods. The concept has been proposed and the elements of an environmental tax have been developed to replace the current fee for negative environmental impact. The novelty lies in the proposed approach to the calculation of the tax base, based on the “conditional pollutant” indicator, the use of which greatly simplifies the mechanism for calculating and administering the tax.