Implementation Of Green Taxes In Latin America

Implementation of Green Taxes in Latin America

Introduction

Our first ancestor Australophitecus believed it evolved about 2 million years ago and we Homo Sapiens Sapiens (current man) appeared 130 thousand years ago, we are complex beings with social, political and economic structures, which are integrated to develop cultures for our survival;But only our survival;We consume large amounts of "everything" large amounts of food, large amounts of energy, large amounts of millions of products that come from nature to meet our needs and desires.

According to the United Nations Organization (UN) we have an estimate of 10 years to reverse the damage that humanity has caused to the planet, if this does not happen the carbon cycle for the 2100 is so affected that it will cause the disappearance of themost species taking us a sixth mass extinction.

[Bookmark: _heading = h.1JCD22KBAZNN] In recent years, much of the world society agrees that we are about to exhaust natural resources, for this reason different measures have been taken that help to generate awareness and try to reduce the impact on the way by which we consume andWe produce. A large part of the managers in the decisions of a change in the environmental impact corresponds to the political entities of the countries, who through environmental policies try to generate an impact to companies to reduce consumption and seek alternatives to their raw materials;The environmental policies developed by government entities are implemented to society through the so -called "environmental taxes or green taxes".

Summary

Taking into account the complexity of the environment, political, legal and other decisions and mechanisms are made;To keep it safe and preserved, considering that it is fundamental for society, through these economic instruments (green taxes), it is intended, decrease and combat the pollution generated by X or and activity which the human being has taken advantage of it without measuringany consequence. It is also important to talk about the relationship between fiscal policy and environmental taxation that is mentioned in this essay, where they indicate that they must be aimed at the protection and reduction of environmental degradation allegedly at a very low cost for society according to Toldini (2002).

Sustainability tries to guarantee the needs of the present without abandoning future populations, focusing mainly on the environment, economic growth and society, this is a global perspective;which must be received and developed to one hundred percent (100%), for the general well -being of society and the environment, considering that the latter is an exhaustible and indispensable resource for the development and continuity of life always acting in thepresent but thinking about our future.

Environmental taxes

The Bank of the Republic of Colombia in its encyclopedia is defined by taxes as: (banrepcultural)

“The money that a person, a family or a company must pay to the State to contribute their income. This is the most important way through which the State obtains resources to carry out its activities and functions ”

According to this definition and closer to the environmental field different authors present their definition

1. Gago and Labadeira, 1999: mandatory payment that agents that emit polluting substances must be made (from or not of a certain minimum level), being calculated by the application of a tax rate which can be fixed or variable to an related tax baseWith the level of downloads to the natural environment.
2. OECDE 2005: Environmental Tax is that whose tax base is a physical unit, or an approach, which has a specific negative impact proven on the environment. (Oliva et al., 2011)
3. Astudillo Marcela: green taxes tax "the manufacture and marketing of products that degrade nature, pollutants to the atmosphere, solid waste discharges, noise, use of fertilizers and pesticides, among others" (Astudillo, 2008)
4. Paton Garcia Gemma: Ecological taxes, (…) Understand very heterogeneous fiscal figures (taxes, canons, rates, taxes), which apply to very diverse areas in order to promote more respectful behaviors of the environment. (Paton, 2012)
5. Oliva Perez, Nicolas and others: Environmental taxes, or green taxes, are those that fall on polluting goods or services. (Oliva et al., 2011)

The authors indicated above coincide with the fact that said tax fall directly to the entity or organization that is impacting and negatively affecting the environment.

Green taxes in Colombia

In Colombia it is in 2009 when an attitude begins to be generated with respect to sanctions that protect the environment of the industries that most affect it, but it is in 2010 when green taxes are established.

For the year 2012, the implementation of the Environmental and Economic Accounting System (SCAE, 2012) which is a multipurpose conceptual framework that describes the interactions between the environment and the economy, through the examination of three major areas:

1. Environmental Assets: Measure the stock and its variation.
2. Physical flows: estimates the physical flows of materials and energy, between the economy and the environment.
3. Environmental activities and associated transactions: quantifies spending on economic activities, and transactions associated with the environment.

Through this methodology, the value of current and investment expenditure made by economic agents in order to prevent, reduce and eliminate pollution and other forms of degradation of the environment. Thus (forest, products, & forest, 2017)

Starting with the imposition of the National Carbon Tax, which is a rate that will be charged to fossil fuels to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), especially carbon dioxide, ”said Murillo and added that the countryIt has the commitment to reduce emissions by 20%, of the value appraised to 2010, “that goal must be achieved in the year 2030 in the framework of the Paris Agreement and this tax helps us to reduce almost 10% the commitmentWhat we have around 2030. This generates huge environmental dividends because what it does is encourage the use of fuels that do not generate global warming. (Minambiente, 2017)

Green tax scope

In practice, even developed countries found it difficult. In this sense, the OECD (2010) specifies 8 points to consider (Fanelli, Jiménez, & López, 2015):

1. Taxes must have the objectives of who pollutes and the behavior that does so, with few exceptions;
2. The tax must have similar scope to the environmental damage and must have comparable entity;
3. The tax must be credible and predictable to take effect on behavior;
4. The resources generated should help in fiscal consolidation
5. Distributive aspects should be treated with additional instruments;
6. It is necessary to coordinate with other countries and provide support for competitiveness during the transition;
7. The environmental taxation policy must be clearly communicated to the public and finally,
8. In many cases it is necessary to combine environmental taxes with other policies.

Impact of green taxes

In Latin America there are no experiences of environmental tax reforms in the strict sense. However, in the latest tax reforms carried out in the region, there is a more frequent use of environmental instruments of an environmental nature. Next, and taking as a starting point the characteristics of the reforms analyzed in Europe, tax reforms carried out in recent years that are relevant are detailed. (Fanelli et al., 2015)

In the first instance, the implementation of green taxes does not want these tax and tax reformsof social justice. (Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, Seo-BirdLife, 2019)

Fiscal resources in Latin America

The majority of Latin American countries, witnesses in the last 10 years, of a growth in fiscal resources, both through the increase in their tax burden and their non -tax revenues. This has meant fiscal extension and has helped in an excessive way to the progress of these countries, focusing on sustained growth, improving their public accounts and reducing inequality.

As indicated (Fanelli, Jimenez, Azcunaga, 2015) fiscal income had a 41% increase from 1992-94 to 2012-2014 This increase was mainly due to:

1. Growth at the activity level,
2. An increase in the prices of export products that represent an important percentage of total income in some countries, and
3. Improvements in the Tax Administration that partially reduced the high levels of fiscal evasion.

To achieve their objectives, Latin America countries had to expand the tax base, through a fiscal revolution,

Fanelli, Jimenez, Azcunaga, 2015 as cited in (cornia et al. 2011 and Mahon, 2009) The new objectives of fiscal policy were economic efficiency (and therefore the reduction of direct tax efficiency costs), horizontal equity and sufficiency of income to achieve these objectives, countriesThey had to expand their tax base, rationalize the structure and simplify the administration. During this ‘fiscal revolution’, the redistribution of income became a secondary objective of tax design ’.

Finally, the increase in fiscal resources in much of the region originated in the increase in income from extractive industries such as Citò (Gómez Sabaini, Jiménez and Morán, 2015). This increase is due both to international prices and the introduction and reform of the different fiscal instruments applied to hydrocarbons and minerals (Fanelli, Jimenez, Azcunaga, 2015 PG 36).

Environmental taxes in economic development

Development demands the accelerated growth of the economy seeking per capita wealth for future generations and that these can enjoy a good level of well -being from current generations.

Given the above, it presents difficulties in accessing this desired level of well -being for the most vulnerable populations because pollution is not expected to be a determining factor in the development of populations, but due to the exhaustion of ecosystems and air pollution resources andWater can disproportionately affect the well -being of the poor, generating restrictions for human development.

Governments present structural changes These modifications can be a source of acceleration of the modern economy for the absorption of traditional policies, increasing the productive sectors in the per capita gain of the state.

Conclusions

Countries in the development of societies and economic growth do not show the environmental impact that their productive processes in the economic activities of companies generate and the inequality of resources worldwide, therefore governments can make structural changes in their policies throughwhich adopt environmental protection positions.

In the last 10 years, extensions have been seen in the regulations of Latin American governments, being part of their economies the implementation of green taxes whose collection and destination is aimed at environmental protection.

Taking into account that sustainable development focuses on the satisfaction of current needs of generations without compromising and/or affecting future, resulting in a balance between economic, environmental and finally social. It is important to highlight that Colombia is a country so completely rich in its biodiversity of fauna and flora to implement environmental taxes is a step to its conservation and the generalization of awareness of each and every one of us. When this type of environmental laws/policies are applied, it is also intended that over time, taxes to be paid for such concepts and more social and environmental responsibility by the taxpayer are less.

Bibliographic and cybergrafts

• Forest, d. AND. L., Products, f. D. AND., & Forest, D. AND. L. (2017). Environmental and Economic Account. 41.
• Fanelli, j. M., Jiménez, J. P., & López, I. (2015). Environmental fiscal reform in Latin America. 63. Retrieved from https: // repository.ECLAC.org/handle/11362/39782
• Vega Fuentes, I. (2012). Historical evolution and development of green taxes in the world and in Mexico: a perspective of sustainability of responsible organizations.