Environmental Taxation: Ukrainian Realities and European Practice

Abstract

Environmental protection is a necessary element of the state strategy of sustainable development. Taxes are an effective tool of environmental policy in many countries of the world. The level of environmental protection in Ukraine is low. According to the ecological component of sustainable development, Ukraine ranks 109 out of 180 countries in the world in 2020. Therefore, taxation is not a sufficiently effective tool of environmental policy in Ukraine. Ukraine's international obligations regarding environmental protection and promotion of long-term goals of sustainable development determine the need to improve the system of environmental taxation in Ukraine. In modern economic conditions the issue of restoration of natural resources and redistribution of environmental tax between the relevant budgets is becoming increasingly important. Environmental taxes as a tool of environmental policy should not just fill the state budget, but stimulate the payer to have a positive and responsible attitude towards the natural environment. The funds received can be used to stimulate environmental protection, state programs for the development and import of resource-saving technologies, waste disposal, etc. Reserves for reducing the load on the surrounding natural environment can be quickly exhausted, therefore it is important to find ways to give economic growth a new quality, so that the recovery of the economy and the growth of industrial production are accompanied by the introduction of effective environmental protection technologies. As a result of the study, the main types of environmental taxes are identified. It is established that the ecological tax is an important lever for counteracting negative changes in the environment. A comparative analysis of environmental tax revenues in the EU and Ukraine was conducted. In the process of research scientific methods were used: economic and statistical - to assess the dynamics of the payment of environmental tax; analysis and synthesis - to find out the reasons that cause changes in the amount of payment. The result of the study is clearly defined trends in the flow of funds to the relevant budgets.