對臺灣環境稅立法的幾點建議

Legislation of Environmental Taxes: A Guide for Policy Makers

環境保護議題是各國所關心的重要問題，也是國家任務之一。為達到環境保護、永續發展的生存環境，許多國家除以國際條約方式降低二氧化碳排放量以外，同時也在國內採取行政管制或經濟調控措施，而環境稅（或稱能源稅）即為手段之一。然而具有行為引導目的的環境稅與量能課稅原則本質上互相扞格，因此要將現有以財政目的為主的稅捐體制改制成為以引導目的為主，實為不可能，但在現有稅捐體制下納入引導目的要素，則是無法避免。過去我國一直研議開徵能源稅而未果，本文即就過去分別由立法委員陳明真（2006年）、田秋堇（2008年）、鄭麗文（2011年）、李應元（2012年）所提出的能源稅條例立法草案作一評釋，並從稅捐法及財政法的角度，以及適度參酌德國立法提出個人意見，認為：一、應將現行各種能源公課加以整併；二、個人及家庭基本電費得列為所得稅之免稅額；三、為鼓勵使用再生能源，應對再生能源免徵能稅；四、有鑑於不同主管機關之間的橫向連結至為重要，應明定稽徵機關與能源主管機關的資訊須互相勾稽。

 

Environmental protection is an important global issue that concerns all countries. In order to achieve environmental protection and sustainable living conditions, many countries strive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by exercising administrative control or employing economic measures. Environmental taxes (or energy taxes) in particular are one of the economic measures which aim at guiding human behaviors that are inconsistent with the ability-to-pay principle of tax law. Thus, it is impossible to tailor the principles of taxation for guiding human behaviors. However, the current trend indicates that incorporating elements of guidance into the existing ability-to-pay based tax law is inevitable. Despite the lengthy discussion of enacting levying environmental taxes, it has never come to reality. Drawing on tax and fiscal law perspective and the German legislation experiences, this paper discusses previous legislation drafts on energy tax proposed by legislators like Min-Jen Chen (2006), Chiu-Chin Tian (2008), Li-Wun Cheng (2011), and Ying-Yuan Lee (2012). It further makes the following propositions that might have significant implications on future legislations: 1) Various kinds of special energy-related levies should be consolidated, 2) the basic electricity costs for households and individuals should be tax-deductible, 3) renewable energy should be exempted from energy taxes in order to encourage its use, and 4) the information flow between tax authorities and energy supervisory institutions should be facilitated.