Behavioural taxes, such as those levied on tobacco, alcohol, and fossil fuels, serve as instruments to influence consumer behaviour, as well as to collect revenue. By levying these taxes, governments seek to discourage the consumption of products that contribute to (significant) negative externalities, such as health costs or climate change. However, the design and implementation of such taxes can be quite complex, with volatile revenue collection. Additionally, public acceptance and consumer responses can vary widely between groups. The European Union has set ambitious environmental and health policy targets that will likely influence the future direction of behavioural taxation. Taxes such as excise duties on tobacco, alcohol or energy and general value-added tax (VAT) – for which common EU rules are in place – may help Member States achieve these objectives and provide additional revenue. In the meantime, several Member States have introduced other behavioural taxes at national level, for instance on flights and on sugar.
Authors
- Pages
- 11
- Published in
- Belgium
Table of Contents
- Summary 1
- Introduction 2
- Public support for behavioural taxes 2
- Economic consequences of behavioural taxation 2
- Role of the EU 3
- Legal basis 3
- Table 1 – Comparison of excise duties and VAT 3
- Excise duties 4
- Table 2 – Excise duty directives in force 4
- (Changing?) revenue dynamics 5
- Figure 1 – Alcohol and tobacco tax revenue as a percentage of EU GDP, EU-27 (1995-2022) 6
- Sugar tax 7
- Aviation tax 7
- Table 3 – Flight tax/ticket tax (per passenger), commercial aviation, EU, 2024, overview 8
- Meat tax 8
- EU budget and behavioural taxation 6
- Looking ahead 9
- Figure 2 – Meat emissions-intensity (kilogram CO₂ equivalent per kilogram of meat product), EU-27, 2021 9
