[...]... made by van der Poel (1963 and 1964), who surveys the development of excise taxation in the Netherlands; the quotation is from p 1012 18 Theory and Practice of Excise Taxation 4 In seventeenth-century England, the term excise or new impost was not only applied to eatables, drinks, tobacco, and other goods, but also to houses, trades (hackney coaches, hawkers), bachelors, and services performed in connection... important for sumptuary excises, the Pigou rationale is paramount in analysing environmentally related taxes, charges, and tradable permits Although the need for greater use of these economic instruments is widely recognized, in practice, as Jean-Philippe Barde and Nils Axel Braathen emphasize in Chapter 5, command -and- control types of regulations 12 Theory and Practice of Excise Taxation still dominate... findings of the essays, following a brief exploration of the definition, objectives, and design of excise taxes 1.2 DEFINITION OF EXCISES Broadly speaking, the distinguishing features of excise taxation are selectivity in coverage, discrimination in intent, and often some form of quantitative measurement in determining the tax liability This contrasts with general consumption taxes, such as VATs and retail... distortionary effects of high taxes on labour supply and demand have induced various governments to re-examine the revenue-substituting potential of excise taxation The seven essays in this volume examine in considerable detail the relative merits of the ‘new’ excise taxes on smoking, drinking, gambling, polluting, and driving, as well as the politics and psychology of excise taxation In most cases,... characteristics of the economy or the sector on which the levy is imposed The multi-dimensionality of green taxes in terms of goals and instruments should be heeded Furthermore, policy-makers should be cognizant of the fact that the implementation of environmental taxes is not costless Importantly, the costs and benefits of the introduction of expensive new emission taxes Economics and Politics of Excise Taxation. .. call into question the blind adherence to the concept of the waste hierarchy as followed in the EU, at least in the case of 14 Theory and Practice of Excise Taxation the Netherlands (Dijkgraaf and Vollebergh, 1998), and could be used to argue that the US waste management industry is properly structured from an economic point of view 1.5.6 Road User and Congestion Charges Various economic theorems – Pigou,... politics and psychology of excise taxation in the concluding chapter In addition, some major points of the conference discussion are highlighted 1.5.1 Taxation of Tobacco In Chapter 2, Sijbren Cnossen and Michael Smart survey and analyse the effects of tobacco taxation They start their contribution with an overview of tobacco taxes in Europe (the EU member states plus the accession countries in central and. .. (1977), Excise Systems: A Global Study of the Selective Taxation of Goods and Services, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press Coase, R H (1960), ‘The problem of social cost’, Journal of Law and Economics, 3: 1– 44 Cook, P J., and Moore, M J (1993), ‘Economic perspectives on reducing alcoholrelated violence’, in National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Economics and Politics of Excise. .. b2.83 and b2.33, respectively The retail price, inclusive of taxes, can be broken down into the price exclusive of taxes (ex-factory cost plus profit and trade margins) and the taxes, i.e excises and VAT Obviously, the ad valorem excise and the VAT are fully identical in effect Therefore, only the sum of ad valorem excise and VAT, hereafter called ad valorem levy, is relevant for the analysis It is often... Witt, International Tax and Investment Center, Washington DC This page intentionally left blank Chapter 1 Economics and Politics of Excise Taxation* SIJBREN CNOSSEN University of Maastricht 1 1 W H Y A R E E X C I S E TA X E S I M P O R TA N T ? Selective taxes on goods and services, often referred to as excise taxes, are among the oldest forms of taxation in the world.1 The salt excise, for instance, . y0 w0 h1" alt="" THEORY AND PRACTICE OF EXCISE TAXATION This page intentionally left blank Theory and Practice of Excise Taxation Smoking, Drinking, Gambling, Polluting, and Driving Edited. Contents List of Figures x List of Tables xi List of Participants xiii 1. Economics and Politics of Excise Taxation 1 Sijbren Cnossen 1.1 Why are Excise Taxes Important? 1 1.2 Definition of Excises. findings of the essays, following a brief exploration of the definition, objectives, and design of excise taxes. 1.2 DEFINITION OF EXCISES Broadly speaking, the distinguishing features of excise taxation