National Institute of Statistics, Italy

Data source(s) used: Environmental tax revenue by category: Environmental taxes, as part of the more general group of taxes, are compulsory payments to the government, where the benefits provided to the taxpayer are not directly linked to the payment. A tax is defined as an environmental tax if its base is ‘a physical unit (or a proxy of it) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment’. This approach, consistent with the international guidelines on environmental taxes, assigns primary importance to the tax base in deciding whether a tax is environmental or not, while the purpose stated by the tax legislator is not relevant. Hence, environmental taxes include both instruments designed with an environmental motivation and instruments with a different stated purpose. The ‘General Government aggregates and Accounts’ (Conti ed aggregati economici delle Amministrazioni pubbliche) produced by Istat National Accounts, are the main source of environmental tax revenue data. The revenue raised by a specific environmental instrument is in some cases singled out within the released General Government accounts , while in other cases is part of the revenue raised by a broader tax Environmental taxes Italy are grouped – consistently with international guidelines – into four categories: energy, transport, pollution, resources.Energy taxes include all taxes on energy products used for both transport (mainly petrol and diesel) and stationary purposes (mainly fuel oils, natural gas, coal and electricity). CO2-taxes are also included under energy taxes rather than under pollution taxes as they are often introduced as a substitute for other energy taxes.Transport taxes mainly include taxes related to the ownership and use of motor vehicles. Taxes on other transport equipment (e.g. planes), and related transport services are also included here, to the extent that they are consistent with the general definition of environmental taxes.Pollution taxes include taxes on measured or estimated emission to air and water, management of solid waste and noise. As already mentioned CO2-taxes are included under energy taxes.Resource taxes include fiscal instruments related to the intake of natural resources. In Italy, there are no environmental taxes belonging to this category.Data by paying unit:Units paying environmental taxes include resident economic activities producing goods and services, resident households or non residents; if part of the revenue cannot be allocated to a specific unit this is presented as 'not allocated'. Environmental taxes paid by economic activities: For resident economic activities producing goods and services, data are broken down by the classification of economic activities NACE Rev.2Environmental tax revenue by CEPA class: Environmental taxes can be broken down by CEPA class (Classification of Environmental Protection Activities and expenditures): 1. Protection of ambient air and climate, 2. Wastewater management, 3. Waste management, 4. Protection and remediation of soil, groundwater and surface water, 5. Noise and vibration abatement, 6. Protection of biodiversity and landscape, 7. Protection against radiation, 8. Research and development, 9. Other environmental protection activities.Environmental tax revenue by earmarking: Depending on the use of the revenue, two kinds of environmental taxes are distinguished:• specific taxes, or earmarked taxes, i.e. taxes whose revenue is used to finance environmental protection expenditure;• other environmental taxes, i.e. taxes whose revenue is NOT earmarked for environmental protection expenditure. Other data characteristics: Due to data rounding, sometimes the sum of numbers displayed does not exactly equal the total.