The politics of green taxation

Green taxes have been part of policymakers` toolboxes for quite some time. Especially from the 1990s onwards green taxes have gained prominence as a market-based alternative to traditional command and control regulation of environmental pollution by firms or individuals. This chapter first identifies the environmental problems green taxes are supposed to overcome and then explains how green or environmental taxes differ from other taxes. It reviews research on the design, adoption and acceptability of green taxes from a political science and political economy perspective. Specifically, I argue that important research gaps remain from a political science perspective. Owing to the ever-increasing salience of climate change in recent years, the topic of environmental taxes and especially carbon taxes looms large on the agendas of governments, voters and interest groups. Accordingly, the handbook chapter will zoom in to present a more in-depth view of the political economy of carbon taxes as the arguably most recent but also most relevant addition in the context of green taxes. The chapter closes with a view on potential future avenues for research with respect to the politics of green taxes.