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Performance budgeting in the field of environment with an emphasis on eco taxes: the case of Slovenia and Croatia

Environmental regulation is one of the most changing in the last few years. Slovenia and Croatia as EU Member states should follow also EU regulation. During the accession process to EU Slovenia was not very successful in implementing the environmental regulation. Nevertheless eco taxes was implemented far before the accession process and they were in accordance to recommendations at EU level. The first Eco tax was introduced in 1995 and after that much more eco taxes followed. In Croatia the first Eco tax was introduced in 1994 and it was the special tax (excise duty) on petroleum products. In 2010, in accordance with the recommendations of the EU, Croatia has replaced this special tax on petroleum products with excise duties on energy products and electricity. Excise duties on energy products and electricity, in addition to petroleum products, include energy products used for heating and transport, as well as electricity. Environmental taxes are one of the most suitable and widely used policy instruments for tackling the pollution problems. As an instrument of environmental policy, an environmental tax is a tax, the tax base of which is a physical unit (or proxy of a physical unit) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment, and which is identified as a tax in the European System of Accounts (ESA 95). These taxes have a double role. They are in fact used to alleviate the burden of other taxes and are also earmarked, in the sense that the revenues they raise are pre- committed to specific expenditure programmes and as such provide an income source for environmental protection in municipal and state budgets. 559Despite the number of different eco taxes the revenues from eco taxes are low, and at EU level even decreasing. Partly this is the result of other environmental measurements that promote more environmental friendly production. The goals of environmental policy can be easily figured from budget documents, especially those connected to performance budgeting. In the paper we will present the development of eco taxation in Slovenia and Croatia and comparison of budget performance indicators of environmental policy in both countries.

environmental tax, performance budgeting, environmental protection, Slovenia, Croatia

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