Tax Expenditures and Environmental Policy

New Horizons in Environmental and Energy Law series

Hope Ashiabor, Dr., University of New South Wales Business School, Australia

This timely book provides a critical examination of the ways in which tax expenditures can be best used in order to enhance their efficacy as instruments for the implementation of environmental policy.

‘Ashiabor’s book provides an informative read for all of those interested in the role of tax policies in fostering environmental protection.’
– Alice Pirlot, British Tax Review

‘The concept of “tax expenditures” as coined by Stephen Surrey in 1967 and its role for environmental protection is the topic of this refreshing book, which investigates policymakers’ inclinations for making stealth disbursements by offering opportunities for reductions in tax payments. Hope Ashiabor’s savvy and sobering analysis unveils how tax expenditures permeate market transactions everywhere, from vehicle purchases to clean-tech development. Although distorting to the visions of internalizing the costs of pollution through taxation, his profound analysis of the realities is nevertheless comforting.’
– Mikael Skou Andersen, Aarhus University, Denmark

‘A very useful resource for people interested in how tax expenditures send environmentally positive and negative signals–and the policy merits of tax expenditures more broadly. Addressing theory and practice, Professor Ashiabor engagingly tackles an important topic.’
– Janet E. Milne, Vermont Law School, US

”Ashiabor教授写了彻底analysis of the use of tax expenditures in an environmental policy context. The analysis is richly illustrated with many interesting examples, spanning half a century, building on an in-depth review of relevant literature. The book clearly emphasises the practical difficulties in designing well-working tax expenditures, and the many political economy issues that they raise.’
– Nils Axel Braathen, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development